I have been a litigator for over twenty-five years. I was an attorney in the US Navy JAG Corps for five years, where I acted as a prosecutor, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney and counsel to Rear Admiral F.M. Dirren, Jr. I reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander.  Upon leaving the Navy in 1995, I joined Smith, Sovik, Kendrick & Sugnet, P.C. I was made a partner at the firm in 1997. 

I handle a wide range of litigation matters (commercial litigation, contracts, personal injury, employment law, defamation, construction accidents, professional malpractice, motor vehicle claims, etc.). I am AV rated by Martindale and Hubble, which is its highest rating. I have been named as one of the Best Lawyers in America each year since 2007 for my work in personal injury litigation, products liability and employment law. Likewise, and because I practice all over NYS, I have been included among the Best Lawyers in New York City, Central New York and Western New York. I have been repeatedly named as one of the top 50 attorneys in Upstate New York by SuperLawyers.com.

I have had the pleasure of appearing before most of the appellate courts in NYS. I had the honor of making what was viewed as "new law" by the NY Law Journal when I represented a client before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. I have earned several multiple multimillion dollar verdicts. Among those was the largest defamation verdict in our nation's history ($188 million), stemming from a case I tried in Brooklyn, NY. More recently, I have had great success representing pension funds relative to their losses stemming from the Madoff Ponzie scheme. In February of 2014, I represented an oil import company (on a contract claim) in a three-week trial in Houston, and I earned a judgment of $1.4 billion.

I have appeared on the O'Reilly Factor and several television programs to discuss various legal issues. 

I take great pride in my work, and I thoroughly enjoy it.