Tracee E. Davis

Tracee E. Davis is of counsel at Zeichner Ellman & Krause LLP in  New York City in the firm’s commercial litigation group.  Ms. Davis has served on the Executive Committee of the Commercial and Federal Litigation Section since 2002 and served as Section Secretary from 2004 to 2005.  Ms. Davis is Chair of the Section’s Diversity Committee and is the former Co-Chair of the Section’s State Court Counsel Committee.  She also served as a member of NYSBA’s House of Delegates from 2004 to 2009.

Ms. Davis’ practice involves complex commercial litigation, consumer class actions, banking, commercial real estate and insurance matters in state and federal court.  She has extensive experience handling disputes in New York ’s Commercial Division.  Prior to private practice, Ms. Davis served as the Principal Court Attorney to Justice Charles Edward Ramos of the New York State Supreme Court, Commercial Division in New York  County  and as Senior Court Attorney in the Law Department of the New York State Supreme Court, in New York  County . 

Throughout the years, Ms. Davis has lectured extensively on various topics involving complex commercial litigation and New York civil practice.  She has been appointed to various task forces, including the New York State Bar Association Task Force on Mandatory Retirement of Judges in 2007 and the New York State Bar Association Task Force on Wrongful Convictions in 2008.  In 2004, she participated in the presentations given to the Justices of the Commercial Division at the New York State Judicial Institute at Pace  University .

David Tennant

David H. Tennant, a partner in the Rochester office of Nixon Peabody, is the new chair of the 2,291-member Commercial and Federal Litigation Section of the New York State Bar Association.

Tennant practices in the fields of Indian Law litigation and appeals, other complex commercial litigation, products liability, and insurance. He is a founding member of his firm’s cross-office/cross-practice group, the Appellate Litigation Team.

An 18-year member of the State Bar, Tennant served as chair of the Committee on Mass Disaster Response from 1999 to 2002. Within the Commercial and Federal Litigation Section, Tennant most recently served as chair-elect and co-chair of the Appellate Practice Committee. He also is a member of the section’s Task Force on State Court Appeals and the Commercial Division Committee.

Tennant is a member of the Defense Research Institute Appellate Advocacy Committee and American Bar Association Council of Appellate Lawyers of the Judicial Division, He also serves on the pro bono panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Tennant received his undergraduate degree with honors from the University of Michigan, and earned his law degree from the University of California at Los Angeles Law School (Order of the Coif).

 Jonathan D. Lupkin

Jonathan D. Lupkin of New York (Flemming Zulack Williamson Zauderer LLP) is the new section chair of the Commercial and Federal Litigation Section of the New York State Bar Association.

Lupkin received his undergraduate degree from Columbia College and earned his law degree from Columbia Law School. He served as notes and comments editor and a member of the Administrative Board for the Columbia Law Review and was named by the law school as a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. 

Lupkin is a partner at Flemming Zulack Williamson Zauderer LLP. He has extensive experience litigating a variety of complex business disputes, including disputes involving attorney malpractice and other professional liability, commercial banking, real estate, partnership break-ups, securities and financial derivatives. He has tried complex jury and non-jury cases in state and federal courts and has experience in various forms of alternative dispute resolution procedures. Lupkin also handles the defense of white-collar professionals, corporate executives, and others in criminal and quasi-criminal investigations and prosecutions, as well as conducts internal investigations.

A 17-year member of the State Bar, Lupkin has served on the Commercial and Federal Litigation Section’s Executive Committee since 2000. He most recently served as chair-elect of the section and previously co-chaired the Civil Prosecutions Committee. He also is a member of the International Section and Criminal Justice Section.

A frequent lecturer on trial and appellate practice, Lupkin also is a member of the New York City Bar and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. In 2006, he was appointed co-editor-in-chief of the Commercial Division Law Report, a New York State Office of Court Administration publication that digests significant decisions rendered by New York’s Commercial Division.

Vincent J. Syracuse

Vincent J. Syracuse is a senior partner at Tannenbaum Helpern Syracuse & Hirschtritt LLP in New York City and is the chair of its litigation and alternate dispute resolution practice group. Active in numerous bar association activities, Mr. Syracuse has been a member of the Section's Executive Committee since 1994. He has served the Section in various leadership roles including Chair, Chair-Elect, Vice-Chair, and three terms as Treasurer. He is also the former Chair of the Section's Committees on the Commercial Division and Complex Civil Litigation.

 Mr. Syracuse is a graduate of Brooklyn College and Brooklyn Law School, where he was a member of the Brooklyn Law Review. He was a law clerk to Associate Judge John F. Scileppi in the New York Court of Appeals. Mr. Syracuse is an experienced commercial litigator, who represents a variety of clients in commercial litigation in all New York State and Federal Courts on the pre-trial, trial and appellate levels and in various alternate dispute resolution forums, including mediation and arbitration. He is a mediator in the Commercial Division of the New York County Supreme Court and has served as an arbitrator in various forums, including the Civil Court of the City of New York.