THIRTEENTH DISTRICT WEB PAGE

YOUR DISTRICT REPS

Welcome to the Thirteenth District Web Page of the NYSBA Torts Insurance and Compensation Law Section (TICL).  As your representatives, we are here to keep you apprised of developments and activities involving the Thirteenth District.  We welcome your ideas and feedback on how we can serve your interests in our section.  

BIOGRAPHY

Ronald Balter has been an associate with the firm of Caruso, Spillane, Leighton, Contrastano, Ulaner & Savino, P.C. with offices in Manhattan and Staten Island since 2000.   He is a 1980 graduate of the University at Buffalo, where he received a B.A. in Political Science.  He received his J.D. from New York Law School in 1983. He was admitted to the Bar of the State of New York in 1984 and has practiced before the Workers' Compensation Board since then almost exclusively representing injured workers.

He is a founding member of the Injured Workers Bar Association and currently the Queens District Vice President.  He served as chair of the State Bar's Tort, Insurance and Compensation Law Section's Workers' Compensation Division from 2004 until 2006. Mr. Balter has also served on the Board of Directors of the Society of New York Workers' Compensation Bar Association since 1988.

In 2005 Mr. Balter was named the Workers' Compensation Attorney of the Year by the Institute for Jewish Humanities.  More recently he was honored as the 2008 recipient of the Russell J. Gugino award by the University at Buffalo's Alumni Association for his continued support of the university's Athletic Department.

Mr. Balter has presented Continuing Legal Education Seminars for the New York State Bar Association, the Injured Workers' Bar Association, the New York State Trial Lawyers Association and the Association of the Bar of the City of New York as well as lecturing before various labor unions about workers' compensation.

Michael O'Brien is a co-founder of O'Brien & Jacobs, PLLC. He received a Bachelor of Arts from Providence College in Rhode Island and received his law degree from Suffolk University in Boston, Massachusetts. Michael is an experienced trial attorney with numerous successful jury verdicts throughout the New York State Supreme Courts and New York City Civil Courts. He has successfully represented institutional and individual clients in complex civil litigation in a broad range of substantive areas, including general negligence, medical malpractice, wrongful death, toxic tort, real estate, constitutional law, trademark and copyright infringement, securities fraud, and business disputes. In addition to trial work, Michael’s courtroom experience also includes successful appeals in New York State Appellate Courts. Prior to co-founding O’Brien & Jacobs, PLLC, Michael was staff counsel for Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company in their New York City office, and before that he was an associate attorney with McCarthy, Small & Associates, P.C., also in New York, NY. During law school, Michael worked for a sole practitioner in Boston, MA, where he gained invaluable experience not only in substantive areas of law, but also with the day-to-day management of a law practice. Michael enhanced his trial expertise by completing an intensive, week-long trial training program at the National Institute for Trial Advocacy in 2004. Michael regularly makes presentations in a variety of forums related to trial skills, tort litigation and insurance coverage issues.