Ben Rubinowitz
About Ben Rubinowitz
Throughout his 30-year legal career, Ben Rubinowitz has established himself as a leading trial lawyer combining dedication with courtroom expertise. He started as a prosecutor, developing trial skills that became his trademark, before representing severely injured plaintiffs in personal injury cases. He joined GGCRBHS&M in 1989.
His meticulous preparation has produced 29 verdicts and over 180 settlements exceeding one million dollars in cases involving car accidents, premises accidents, construction accidents, medical malpractice, civil rights violations, and products liability. His ability to translate complex information into clear jury language has earned respect from judges and expert witnesses alike. He has successfully argued appellate cases before New York's highest courts.
Beyond litigation, Rubinowitz serves as a legal expert, having appeared on Court TV and co-authored trial advocacy columns in the New York Law Journal. He teaches trial advocacy nationally at Harvard, Yale, Emory, Fordham, Hofstra, St. John's, Pace, and Cardozo law schools, plus over 500 continuing legal education programs nationally and internationally. The National Institute for Trial Advocacy appointed him national and regional team leader, and he served as Chair.
Duke University School of Medicine, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, the American Urologic Association, Mt. Sinai Hospital, NYU School of Medicine, and Mayo Clinic have invited him to lecture physicians about medical malpractice. He lectures to judges at the Judicial Institute and has represented judges before the Judicial Conduct Commission.
He was lead trial attorney in the Metro-North Valhalla train crash, where the jury found Metro-North 71% liable for a train crash resulting in six deaths and numerous injuries; the subsequent settlement exceeded $182 million. His recognitions include being named the #1 attorney in the New York Metro area by Super Lawyers for three consecutive years and Best Lawyers "Lawyer of the Year" six times. He is a member of The Inner Circle of Advocates, the top 100 plaintiff attorneys nationally.
Notable case results
After a Westchester jury found Metro-North 71% at fault for the 2015 Valhalla grade-crossing disaster, a settlement exceeding $182 million resolved the claims of roughly 30 victims and their families.
After on-call residents missed a stroke on a CT scan and delayed lifesaving treatment for hours, Gair Gair Conason won a $120 million verdict against Westchester Medical Center for William Lee, the largest medical-malpractice award in the county's history.
After a methanol "rainbow" demonstration erupted into a fireball and burned 16-year-old Alonzo Yanes over more than 30 percent of his body, Gair Gair Conason won a $59.17 million verdict against the New York City Department of Education and his chemistry teacher.
A Queens jury awarded $41.5 million to the widow and four children of Steven Frosch, a 43-year-old New York City sanitation worker crushed between two street sweepers inside a Maspeth garage.
After a New York City Transit Authority bus struck and dragged Gloria Aguilar in Manhattan, costing her a leg, Gair Gair Conason won her a $27.5 million verdict, later cut to roughly $18 million on appeal.
Gair Gair Conason secured a $27.5 million settlement from the Diocese of Brooklyn for four boys abused by a parish religion teacher, reported as the largest individual Catholic Church sexual-abuse payout on record at the time.
Gair Gair Conason represented the family of comedian Joan Rivers in a wrongful-death and medical-malpractice case against the Manhattan clinic where she died after a 2014 throat procedure, resolved in 2016 on confidential terms.
Manhattan jury verdict for Morgan Wang, a former Cornell University student who suffered a lumbar spinal cord injury in a 2012 car crash when the driver fell asleep at the wheel. Reported as one of the largest verdicts in the country for that injury type ($60M future medical, $6M future pain/suffering, $5M past pain/suffering).
For the family of a 35-year-old financial analyst and mother, a pedestrian struck and killed by a truck while crossing Sixth Avenue in Manhattan. Reported by the firm as among the largest New York settlements for the wrongful death of a single individual.
For a man rendered partially incontinent and left with sensory/motor loss after a physician failed to diagnose a spinal arteriovenous malformation (AVM) despite progressive symptoms below the waist. Reported as the largest verdict in Onondaga County at the time.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.
Practice areas
Education
Bar admissions & credentials
Litigation record
Ben Rubinowitz is counsel of record on the firm's appellate matters, including the published decisions below — official court records, verifiable and not self-reported.
