Starting and Running a Law Firm: Tips, Strategies, and Success Stories

Alan Schnurman is a senior partner in the Wall Street law firm of Zalman & Schnurman. He has been a practicing attorney since 1972 and is admitted to practice in the State of New York and in the U.S. District Courts of Eastern and Southern District of New York (1974) and the United States Supreme Court (1976).

He is the founding host of LAWLINE, a television program focusing on legal news and trends that has aired in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut for 18 years. Mr. Schnurman is currently Treasurer of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association and a former President of the Association of Trial Lawyers of the City of New York. He was Chairperson of the 1999 New York State Trial Lawyers Association's Annual Convention, and is chairperson of the annual lecture series "Marketing: The Business of Law", New York State Trial Lawyers. Mr. Schnurman is highly regarded among his peers throughout the legal profession for his creative approach to legal issues.

Through his law firm, Zalman & Schnurman, whose practice is limited to personal injury and insurance law, he has won handsome financial awards on behalf of his clients. Because of his highly successful practice and landmark decisions, he is a frequent guest lecturer and has appeared on a number of radio and television shows, and has been quoted in many newspaper articles. In addition to his law practice, Mr. Schnurman has served on a number of local and state panels. Just to name a few, he has been a member of the following: Judicial Screening panel (Democratic Party-New York County) Advisory Committee on Tort Litigation, New York County NYS Office of Court Administration Jury Project Implementation Committee Chair, Judicial Screening Panel for New York and Kings Counties, New York State Trial Lawyers Assoc. Judiciary/Trial Lawyers Joint Committee Office of Court Administration Chair, Committee on Advertising and Unauthorized Practice, New York State Trial Lawyers Association Mr. Schnurman is married to Judy Stein and has two children, Michele and David.

Alan Schnurman has practiced in the field of personal injury for 37 years.  He has given CLE seminars at the New York State Bar Association and New York State Trial Lawyers Association.  He has been written about in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, NY Post, and USA Today.  He has been featured on CNN, The Today Show, and Good Morning America.

VISIT: www.danielgershburg.com

Daniel Gershburg took a different road when graduating from law school.  While he was a member of the Law Review and the Harlan Scholars program, Mr. Gershburg passed up the opportunity to work at large law firms and instead decided to establish his own practice, with the hope of changing the way small practice attorneys are viewed.  His practice deals specifically with Bankruptcy and Real Estate Law.  Mr. Gershburg has spoken to classes at New York Law School, has been published in New York State Bar Association newsletters, and also serves on the New York State Bar Association Young Lawyers Division Executive Committee.  He frequently speaks at community functions in his Brooklyn neighborhood educating members of the community about Bankruptcy as well as financial advocacy.  Mr. Gershburg also spends a considerable amount of pro bono time volunteering at the Brooklyn Bar Assocation Volunteer Lawyers Project, assisting low income individuals to file for Bankruptcy. 

Marc D. Garfinkle is a criminal and civil trial lawyer who “went solo” right out of law school in San Francisco over thirty years ago.   An award-winning speaker, he is presently Adjunct Professor of Persuasion and Advocacy at Seton Hall Law School and teaches deposition skills for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA).  He is a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NCDL), the American Association for Justice, the Association for Continuing Legal Education (ACLEA), the American Bar Association and Phi Beta Kappa.   He is a perennial judge at the prestigious Gibbons Criminal Procedure Moot Court Competition at Seton Hall Law School, and the New Jersey State Championships of the Knights of Pythias annual High School Public Speaking Competition.  Marc appears often on radio and television, and is a featured faculty member for Lawline.com.

Mr. Garfinkle is a former investigator and past chair of the NJ Supreme Ct. Dist. VB Attorney Ethics Committee.                                 

Beside his practice, Marc is Municipal Public Defender in Livingston, NJ, and heads Marc Garfinkle Seminars, LLC, which produces professional education, seminars and workshops for lawyers, law students, and law enforcement.  Marc is a popular national speaker, and he is the author of the popular "$olo Contendere: How to Go Directly from Law School into the Practice of Law without Getting a Job". This easy-to-read book gives encouragement, guidance, and valuable tips to recent law grads attempting to bridge the gap alone. He has written “The Hip-Pocket Guide to Testifying in Court,” “The New Lawyer’s Hip-Pocket Guide to Appearing in Court,” and the “Law Enforcement Officer’s Hip-Pocket Guide to Testifying in Court".