Denise A. Rubin

Biography

Denise A. Rubin is an accomplished appellate and complex briefing litigator with a 33 year track record of success for her clients.

Ms. Rubin gained broad experience litigating New York Labor Law (construction accident) matters when she served as the primary briefing attorney for plaintiffs’ liaison counsel, representing more than 11,000 first responders and construction workers suffering toxic exposure injuries following the debris removal and clean up of the WTC site following the 9/11 terrorist attacks in lower Manhattan. In that capacity, she appeared frequently before the US District Court for the Southern District of New York in the In re: World Trade Center Disaster Site litigations and briefed and argued multiple appeals to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in litigating the Ground Zero matters for more than ten years. The Ground Zero litigations were described by presiding District Court Judge Alvin Hellerstein as: “the most complex case in the history of American mass tort litigation.” See, Hellerstein, et al., Managerial Judging: The 9/11 Responders' Tort Litigation, 98 Cornell Law Review, Issue 1, November 2012; see also Groner, W., Teicholz, T., “9/12: The Epic Battle of the Ground Zero Responders,” Potomac Books, 2019.

In addition to her work on Ground Zero and other Labor Law matters, Ms. Rubin has litigated pharmaceutical and medical device products liability claims and professional liability matters, and served as the Principal Court Attorney to a New York State Supreme Court Justice in New York County. She has lectured as a program panelist on pharmaceutical products liability (diet drug litigation), environmental law, appellate practice and moderated a panel on attorney ethics for the New York City Bar Association, where she sits on the Professional Responsibility Committee.

Ms. Rubin is admitted to practice in New York, and is a Member of the Bars of the United States District Courts for the Southern, Eastern and Northern Districts of New York, the United States Courts of Appeals for the Second, Third and Sixth Circuits and the United States Supreme Court. She is also certified as a commercial mediator.

Education

• Fordham University School of Law, New York, New York
  J.D. - 1990
• New York University
  B.S. - 1983

Bar Admission

• New York, 1991
• U.S. District Court Southern District of New York, 1991
• U.S. District Court Eastern District of New York, 1991
• U.S. District Court Northern District of New York, 1991
• U.S. Court of Appeals 2nd Circuit, 1991
• U.S. Supreme Court, 1997
• U.S. Court of Appeals 3rd Circuit, 2003
• U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit, 2012

Published Works

• Does Early Breast Cancer Diagnosis Affect Cure, Survival?, MEDICAL-LEGAL ASPECTS OF CANCER LITIGATION, Leader Pub., NY, Vol. I, No. 1, p.1, Feb., 1995

Honors

• New York Metro SuperLawyers® 2012 - 2023
• New York Metro SuperLawyers® Best Women Attorneys in New York, 2014 - 2023

Classes & Seminars

• Moderator: How Your Small Firm or Solo Practice Can Minimize Ethics Complaints and Negative Outcomes; New York City Bar Association, Small Firm Practice Symposium, for Committee on Professional Responsibility. November 9, 2017
• Panelist: 41st Annual Conference on Environmental Law; American Bar Association Section of Environment, Energy & Resources, March 21-23, 2012, Salt Lake City, UT
• Panelist for “Hydraulic Fracturing on Trial: Possibilities, Pollution, and Preemption;” and for: “Part 2: Discussion of Emerging State and Interstate Hydraulic Fracturing Controversies”
• Panelist: Mealey’s Diet Drug Litigation Seminar, Philadelphia, PA, 2004
• Gillers, Stephen, and Rubin, Denise A., An Attorney’s Ethical Obligations Relating to Disclosure of Health Issues To Clients, Colleagues and the Court, Outline and Written Materials Prepared for Continuing Legal Education Course Presented Jointly by the Judges and Lawyers Breast Cancer Alert (“JALBCA”), The Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York and The Saint Vincent's Comprehensive Cancer Center (SVCCC): Managing Your Career and Cancer: Ethical, Professional and Emotional Considerations After Diagnosis. October 27, 1999
• Panelist: "Appeals from the Inside Out: An Introduction;" Continuing Legal Education Seminar Sponsored by Appellate Courts Committee of the New York County Lawyers Association -- May 19, 1997
• Panelist: "Roadblocks To A Successful Appeal And How To Overcome Them;" Continuing Legal Education Seminar Sponsored by Appellate Courts Committee of the New York County Lawyers Association -- May 2, 1995

Professional Associations

• New York City Bar Association, Committee on Professional Responsibility