The Firm He Created

When business litigator Russell Yankwitt decided to launch his own law firm in Westchester in 2009, he envisioned a place where he could do high-caliber, complex work while still living his life.

“I was either courageous or foolish, depending on who you asked at the time. The economy was struggling, I was leaving a secure position, and there were certainly easier paths available,” says Yankwitt. “New York City law firms require very late nights, and when you live in the suburbs, it’s hard to see your children. I wanted to create a place where people had flexibility so they could make afternoon baseball games and recitals.”

The universe immediately put Yankwitt’s concept to the test.

One week after making the leap, Yankwitt was on trial in New Jersey, representing the parent company of a restaurant being sued by a customer who’d suffered second-degree burns because of a server’s alleged mistake. He’d brought the case with him from his previous firm, but the firm was arguing with the client over an outstanding invoice and wouldn’t give Yankwitt all the relevant documents he needed. During the weeklong trial, Yankwitt bluffed his way through some witness testimony, waving blank sheets of paper for emphasis, and checking off points on these blank sheets after a witness’s response—as if it confirmed something he already knew. “It was like in the movies,” he says.

And it paid off: The jury took all of four hours to return a verdict for the defense. Yankwitt was exhausted but elated. So much so, that when his wife said she had good news, he briefly wondered how she’d learned of his courtroom victory. Instead, she reported that the 21-month-old toddler with special needs they’d been trying to adopt from Taiwan was ready to meet them—and they needed to go overseas immediately. 

During his two weeks in Taiwan, Yankwitt continued to work with existing clients while rainmaking and promoting his firm. Two weeks later, they returned home with their daughter, Shayna, who struggled as she adjusted to new surroundings and a new language. Like many new parents, Yankwitt and his wife Deborah, a pediatrician, tag-teamed: When she wasn’t with the child, he was. When she took on the caretaking role, he’d work at the kitchen table. Sleep seemed a luxury.

But he found success by working odd hours—sometimes from 7 until 9 in the morning, then again in the afternoon, and from 6 p.m. until the following morning.

Seventeen years later, Yankwitt LLP is 20 lawyers strong. It’s leaned into its suburban base, with offices steps away from the state and federal courthouses. Every associate is mandated to work in the housing clinic of the Legal Services of the Hudson Valley, while Yankwitt will be the next president of the Federal Bar Council.

All of it, says Steven Locke, a friend of Yankwitt and a U.S. magistrate judge for the Eastern District of New York, has helped Yankwitt “carve out a space in Westchester for a boutique firm dealing primarily with complex civil litigation.”

More, the firm has a rep as a landing place where attorneys can achieve the oft-lauded but rarely seen “work-life balance.”

“One of the things I am proudest of is showing that it is possible to achieve a high level of professional success without sacrificing the important moments at home. I made it to Little League games, school events, family dinners, graduations and milestones,” Yankwitt says. “Those moments matter. Cases end, verdicts fade, titles come and go. Family is what remains.”

Dina Hamerman, a Yankwitt partner and the firm’s executive director, says the firm treats its lawyers as adults, trusting them to divide their time while consistently doing good work. “If you want to work at home because that’s sometimes better for you, or if you need to leave in the morning for a kindergarten graduation or a doctor’s appointment, [the firm] is completely supportive and there are no questions asked,” says Hamerman, a mother of three. “We expect people to get their work done and be available by email or phone if necessary, but you make your schedule that works for you. That’s very unique.”

Yankwitt has long been familiar with the demands on a lawyer’s time. His father, George, led litigation departments at two major Manhattan firms and served as president of the Federal Bar Council. “He was always the last one in the office,” Yankwitt recalls.

Family dinners, Yankwitt adds, were “not for the faint of heart. Every argument was challenged, every assumption was questioned, and every position was scrutinized by intelligent, caring and highly competitive people who also happened to enjoy winning.”

Yankwitt’s two brothers followed their father’s lead, attending his alma mater, Cornell Law School, then launching legal careers. Older brother Ian, who died in 2020, was in private practice before becoming a federal public defender. Younger brother Craig, who died in 2016, practiced personal injury law.

Yankwitt’s own path was not as direct. He studied economics and psychology as an undergrad at Connecticut College, and considered pursuing a Ph.D. in psychology. Then he spent a year living in Japan, teaching English. During this time, he traveled to the Himalayas, where he met people who were involved in revising the Constitution of Nepal. He reached his moment of enlightenment on a mountaintop. 

“Watching them grapple with questions of governance, rights and institutions made me realize that law was one of the most powerful tools shaping society and improving people’s lives,” Yankwitt recalls. “I concluded that I could have a greater impact through the law than through psychology.”

He prepared for the LSATs using outdated study materials, and took the test in Tokyo while sitting on a mat on the hardwood floor. His score got him into Cornell. He began his studies keeping two lessons from his father in mind: There is no substitute for hard work; and loyalty matters. 

“You treat everyone on the team with respect, whether you are a partner, an associate, a paralegal, a receptionist or a messenger,” Yankwitt says. “Every person contributes to the success of a case.”

After law school, Yankwitt served as law clerk to Eastern District of New York Judge Thomas C. Platt; then he joined the international firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

“I couldn’t wait to hire him. He’s a delightful human being as well as a good lawyer,” says Jonathan Lerner, who led Skadden’s New York office litigation department for more than 20 years. “In law, you have to be ready to work the hours, and he was. He worked hard.”

Partner Joe Flom had a rule that every client’s call be returned within two hours. That meant, in those pre-smartphone years, that Yankwitt’s pockets jangled with quarters in case he had to make calls via public phones in subway stations. “We are a service business and responsiveness matters,” he says. “I also learned the importance of precision. No spelling mistakes, missed case citations or weak arguments. Judges, opposing counsel, clients—they all notice.” 

After four years at Skadden, Yankwitt took a job at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, which reinforced the importance of building a good reputation. “When you file a brief as an AUSA, you are not simply signing your own name. You are representing an institution larger than yourself. That lesson has stayed with me throughout my career,” he says. “Credibility takes years to earn and can be lost quickly. When judges, clients, mediators and even adversaries know that your word can be trusted, it becomes one of your most valuable assets.”

With his own firm, Yankwitt seeks lawyers who have taken his path: clerking for a federal judge or working as a federal prosecutor. He’s found them. Every Yankwitt attorney has been one or the other. In a 2020 Westchester Magazine article, he declared that his was the only firm with attorneys who’d clerked for every federal judge in Westchester County.

Yankwitt reviews every customer invoice. “No one loves getting a bill,” he says, “but the vast majority of our clients—99%—pay without questioning a single item, which is not the industry standard.”

Adam Bernstein, the senior director and assistant general counsel at the biotech company Regeneron, calls Yankwitt “a tenacious advocate and a strategic counselor” who is “always going the extra mile.”

Keith Bayko, corporate counsel for Landry’s, Inc., a hospitality and entertainment company, says he’s impressed by Yankwitt’s time-juggling skills. “Every time I call, he calls me right back,” he says. “Within 24 hours, usually within the hour. Some lawyers, I email and call and I don’t get responses for days.”

After a recent case in which a judge set a three-day timeline, Bayko was on the phone with questions every single day. “I called him on different days at different times, asking questions about this and that, and he had answers—thorough, well-thought-out answers,” Bayko says. 

Lerner, his former Skadden colleague, knew which firm to go to when a nonprofit he works with needed a lawyer. The work by the Yankwitt team, he says, was “absolutely terrific. … They were very responsive about the matter, which they took pro bono.” The case was ultimately dismissed. 

Yankwitt says his attorneys probably spend more time in the courtroom than most. “We’re now known as a firm that does not settle,” Yankwitt says. “And when we settle, I want to make the plaintiff’s counsel work so hard—they’re usually on a contingency basis—that they’re not going to sue us again. I look at it as a failure if we settle and the same plaintiff’s counsel sues us again.”

He was attracted to litigation, he says, because sometimes courtroom success depends not on the strongest case but on which side has worked the hardest. “I was never a great athlete, but I always chose sports where heart mattered more than skill,” he says, including cross-country running and tennis.

One such success came during a case Yankwitt was initially seeking to settle. His client was a family-owned company that had failed to pay royalties on a copyrighted design. It wasn’t an intentional oversight, and his client was willing to pay significant damages to make amends, Yankwitt told the jury. But the plaintiff’s attorney presented documents showing his client was owed $32 million.

The trial had been rough, with parties on both sides falling ill, including Yankwitt, the plaintiff and the judge. The plaintiff stopped coming to court, leaving an out-of-town lawyer with a Texas drawl to present their case. The ailing judge struggled to push through. Yankwitt, who was breathing with one lung and using an inhaler in the courtroom, stayed the course. 

“I was clearly sick. I could barely breathe, but I think the jury recognized how hard we were trying to win for our clients,” Yankwitt says.

In closing, he argued the plaintiff manufactured false documents. The jury ultimately decided that Yankwitt’s client owed the plaintiff nothing. “That was a great day,” he says. 

The walls of Yankwitt’s personal office are covered in framed images—almost all family photos. The degrees are tucked away behind a door. And he peps up considerably when asked about his family. He shares that when his son Aden was in elementary school, he walked him to class every Friday; when he got older and played soccer and football, he made every game. Aden now attends Union College. “We’re exceptionally close,” Yankwitt says. 

When daughter Shayna needed extra help adjusting to life in her new home, Yankwitt was able to build his work weeks around her appointments and needs. She’ll enter Pace University next year. “She’s worked so hard and we’re excited for her,” he says.

Being a lawyer still involves long hours, unforgiving deadlines, and complex and intellectually challenging cases; but the firm he’s created gives him flexibility. During a recent interview with a potential hire, the candidate commented that she’d talked to three Yankwitt employees and all seemed genuinely happy to be working there.

“You do better work when you’re happy,” Yankwitt says. “Work’s still work, but no one’s grumpy. Clients notice that.”