SECURITIES LOSSES - Key Persons
Cliff Bond is of counsel to the firm. He is an accomplished commercial litigator, having litigated before state courts, federal courts and arbitration tribunals and having represented high net worth individuals, closely held companies, and publicly held companies. Cliff has extensive experience in all facets of litigation from pre-action investigation through and including trial and appeal.
Cliff's broad commercial litigation experience includes matters involving accounting malpractice, securities fraud and other securities law violations, common law fraud, employer-employee disputes, real estate disputes, breach of contract, franchise disputes, intellectual property, banking, breach of fiduciary duty, trusts and estates and other commercial disputes. Cliff also is experienced in conducting internal business investigations, providing general legal advice to businesses, drafting employment and other contracts, and handling real estate transactions.
Cliff is a graduate of Binghamton University (1987), from where he graduated with honors, and he is a graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center (1990) where he was on the Dean's List and was a member of the Tax Lawyer Law Review.
Cliff is admitted to practice in the State and Federal Courts of New York and has been admitted to practice pro hac vice in courts nationwide.
Job Titles:
- of Counsel
- Counsel to the New York City Law Firm
- Member of the New York
David A. Cannon is of counsel to the New York City law firm of Kaufmann Gildin & Robbins LLP, where he specializes in real estate and trust and estates law.
Mr. Cannon has practiced and continues to practice in all areas of real estate law including acquisition and conveyance of commercial and residential properties, commercial leasing, lender's and borrower's counsel in connection with commercial and residential mortgage financings, sale leaseback transactions and joint venture partnership structuring. Mr. Cannon represents various cooperative corporations and condominium associations. His trusts and estates practice includes estate planning, estate and gift taxation, trust and estate administration, and pre - and post - nuptial agreements and planning.
Mr. Cannon has lectured to various subcommittees of the New York City Bar Association in the trusts and estates area. He is the author, among other works, of "Estate, Income and Property Tax Effects of Changing Domicile From New York to Florida", which appeared in the New York State Bar Journal (January, 1991).
Mr. Cannon is a member of the New York bar, and is admitted to practice before the United States Tax Court. He received a B.A. degree with honors from Hamilton College and his law degree from the Fordham University School of Law.
David Baharvar Ramsey focuses his practice on domestic and international franchising and corporate transactional matters. He is the head of the firm's international franchise practice and the chair of the firm's Corporate/Mergers and Acquisitions and Securities Practice Group. He has diversified transactional experience in franchise matters, as well as many years of experience in corporate mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, and commercial contractual matters.
David's years of franchise law experience includes guiding franchisors in preparing their franchise disclosure documents; representing franchisor clients to state regulators and franchise examiners in order to secure franchise registrations and exemptions; drafting and negotiating franchise agreements and development agreements; negotiating and structuring system-wide and regional supplier arrangements and drafting agreements memorializing the same; acting as special franchise counsel to advise on financing transactions such as the securitization of franchisor royalty streams; counseling franchisors on a variety of franchise relationship issues such as franchise termination and strategies to avoid and resolve disputes with franchisees; and otherwise advising both emerging and mature companies with respect to planning, structuring and implementing their franchise, distribution and licensing programs.
David's corporate law background includes negotiating and navigating all legal aspects of mergers, acquisitions and divestitures of companies and divisions (including assisting private equity firms with the purchase and sale of franchise systems as well as other types of businesses); the formation and governance of corporations, limited liability companies, joint ventures and partnerships; venture capital investments in businesses; corporate re-organizations; and general corporate legal advice.
Finally, David's commercial contracts legal experience includes negotiating and drafting a wide variety of licensing agreements, e-commerce and software development agreements, procurement contracts, outsourcing contracts, consulting, supplier, and master services agreements.
David's clients have included domestic and international franchisors; private investment funds; special committees of boards of directors; global publishing, media and entertainment brands; telecommunications and cable companies; insurance companies; real estate companies; e-commerce companies; and product manufacturers and service providers in a wide variety of industries.
David is a graduate of Harvard Law School, where he was a Co-Executive Editor of The Harvard Negotiation Law Review, an External Training Co-Director of the Harvard Mediation Program, and a member of the Consortium on Global Leadership. He is also a graduate of Cornell University, where he was a Cornell Presidential Research Scholar for all four years, Co-Chair of the Cornell Coalition for the Homeless, on the Dean's List, and graduated with Honors.
Mr. Robbins is a former Special Deputy Attorney General in the Securities Bureau of the New York Department of Law and thereafter served as director of the Compliance Department and Legal Regulatory Division of the American Stock Exchange. He has also served as a mediator and an arbitrator for the NYSE, the AAA and NASD Dispute Resolution Inc. and now FINRA (the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority).
David E. Robbins is respected by his peers throughout the nation for his knowledge, his experience and his contributions to the field of securities law. Few attorneys are as well equipped and prepared to represent you.
Mr. Robbins is a partner in the New York City law firm of Kaufmann Gildin & Robbins LLP and specializes in commercial arbitration and mediation. 1 He represents investors, brokers and firms in disputes and brokers and firms before regulatory agencies. His firm also specializes in all aspects of franchise law, nationwide and worldwide. He is an expert witness in malpractice cases arising out of securities arbitrations. He and his firm have been responsible for the return of tens of millions of dollars to investors and have represented brokers in arbitrations and regulatory matters. Mr. Robbins served as Special Deputy Attorney General of New York State, responsible for the civil and criminal prosecution of securities fraud cases, and was the American Stock Exchange Director of Compliance and Director of its Legal and Regulatory Policy Division, where his was Director of Arbitration and Director of Disciplinary Hearings. He has the highest Peer Review Rating (AV) from Martindale-Hubbell and in 2016 and again in 2020 was approved as a "Super Lawyer" in securities law.
Mr. Robbins is the author of Securities Arbitration Procedure Manual (Dec. 2022 Matthew Bender, a division of Lexis Publishing 2 ), which has been the primary text in this area of the law and which he has updated for over 30 years. This two volume, 4,200+ page book presents pragmatic, balanced guides to the practice of securities arbitration and mediation for attorneys representing investors, brokers and firms. In 2023, Securities Arbitration Commentator wrote: "The SAPM - a true tour de force - is now over three decades in the making, starting publication in 1990 and continually updated by the author and practitioner over the years, as the practice evolves and new rules and procedures adjust to an ever-changing landscape. Author Robbins has chronicled securities arbitration's modern history and participated at the center of events and developments that have shaped it. What has set SAPM apart and has made it the enduring leader in its field has been the dedicated efforts of its author to update and revise the book every year without fail and to inform those updates and revisions with the practical knowledge and observations of a versatile and respected practitioner. To us, David Robbins occupies a special place of honor in the field of securities arbitration." Since 1995, Mr. Robbins has written the annual Practice Commentary to McKinney's Consolidated Laws of New York, Article 23-A of the General Business Law - on securities arbitration and mediation. 3 A revised and updated compilation of the 1995 -2021 Commentaries was published in 2022 along with his December 2022 Commentary. He has written over 75 articles on securities law, including "Trust Established - Trust Breached" and "Nothing But The Truth? Lying in Arbitration," published by The PIABA Bar Journal.
Mr. Robbins served as the Chairperson for more than 20 Practising Law Institute (PLI) continuing education programs on securities arbitration and mediation. He is the recipient of the Public Investors Advocate Bar Association (PIABA) lifetime achievement Golden Bow Tie Award and was a member of FINRA Dispute Resolution's National Arbitration and Mediation Committee. He is a member of the New York City Bar Association and PIABA and is on the Board of Editors of Securities Arbitration Commentator and The PIABA Bar Journal. Mr. Robbins has been co-chair of the New York State Bar Association program on securities arbitration. He is also a long-time, active member of the Board of Directors of The Friends of Sagamore Hill, 4 the National Historic Site and home of President Theodore Roosevelt in Oyster Bay, Long Island, where he and his wife live.
Job Titles:
- Founding Member
- Senior Partner
David J. Kaufmann is a founding member and senior partner of New York City's Kaufmann Gildin & Robbins LLP.
David - - partner-in-charge of Kaufmann Gildin's franchise team - - is nationally acclaimed as one of America's foremost franchise lawyers. The United States District Court for the Southern District Court of New York long ago held that "David Kaufmann is unquestionably an expert in franchise law." The New York Times lauds David as "a lawyer in New York who has represented many of the nation's top franchisers". David has been featured in The Best Lawyers in America under the heading "Franchising-New York City" in every edition of that publication. He was named the inaugural "New York Area Franchise Lawyer of the Year" by New York magazine. And Franchise Times inducted David into its "Legal Eagle Hall of Fame" (as an attorney who was dubbed a "Legal Eagle" by that publication each and every year since inception).
David's franchise clients include many of our nation's and the world's largest and most prestigious franchisers including: YUM! Brands, Inc. (Pizza Hut/KFC/Taco Bell); Marriott International, Inc.; Wendy's International, Inc.; Arby's Restaurant Group, Inc.; 7-Eleven, Inc.; InterContinental Hotels Group plc (Holiday Inns/Crowne Plaza/InterContinental Hotels/Hotel Indigo); Enterprise Holdings, Inc. (Enterprise, National and Alamo vehicle rental networks); Wyndham Worldwide Corporation (Wyndham Hotels & Resorts/Ramada Inns/Days Inns/Howard Johnson/Super 8/Travelodge); Weichert Realtors; Jani-King, Inc.; Wok & Roll; Ripley's Attractions, Inc.; Johnny Rockets Group, Inc.; The Museum of Modern Art; and, Luke's Lobster.
As well, David has been asked by many of our nation's leading investment banks, private equity concerns and law firms to assist in their franchise-related acquisitions, securitizations and financings. These include: Goldman Sachs; The Blackstone Group; Trian Partners, L.P.; Castle Harlan; Wellspring Management LLC; Cerberus Capital Management L.P.; Levine Leichtman Capital Partners; Haas Wheat; Friedman Fleischer & Lowe; Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP; Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom; Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP; Debevoise & Plimpton LLP; Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCoy LLP; Vinson & Elkins LLP; Simpson Thatcher; and, Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson.
David authored the New York Franchise Act (New York's franchise statute) while serving as Special Deputy Attorney General; serves as an advisor to the organization of federal and state officials responsible for devising and coordinating franchise regulatory activity nationwide - - the NASAA (North American Securities Administrators Association) Franchise Project Group; served as a member of the Governing Committee of the American Bar Association Franchise Forum; served as Chair of the New York State Bar Association Franchise Law Committee; is the New York Law Journal's Franchise Columnist; authors the Franchise Practice Commentary appearing in McKinney's New York Statutes, which is routinely relied upon by federal and state courts determining franchise disputes involving the New York Franchise Act; and, authored the International Franchise Association's treatise on franchise law, entitled An Introduction to the Law of Franchising.
David holds (and has held since 1988) the highest possible ranking accorded by our nation's leading attorney rating firm, Martindale-Hubbell: "AV Preeminent" ("Highest Possible Peer Review Rating in Legal Ability and Ethical Standards").
David is admitted to practice before the federal and state trial at appellate courts of New York and the United States Supreme Court, and has been admitted pro hac vice in various federal and state courts around the country.
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Member of the New York State Bar Association 's Franchise Law Committee
Mr. Shelley represents the firm's franchise and commercial clients in all phases of litigation, from pre-action investigation through trial and appeal. Mr. Shelley has broad experience litigating and arbitrating commercial cases, including recent cases involving franchise termination; franchise fraud; enforcement of in-term and post-term contractual restrictions in the franchise and employment settings; unfair competition; securities fraud; employment law; and breach of contract. Mr. Shelley has also filed numerous amicus curiae appellate briefs on behalf of the International Franchise Association, in cases involving vicarious liability, franchise fraud and other issues of critical importance to the franchising industry nationwide. Mr. Shelley also regularly represents the firm's clients before various federal, state, and local administrative agencies.
In addition to his litigation activities, Mr. Shelley is also active in the firm's transactional practice, especially in connection with franchise-related transactions. Mr. Shelley also represents a number of information technology firms in connection with their activities both domestically and internationally.
Mr. Shelley is a member of the New York State Bar Association's Franchise Law Committee, the International Franchise Association, and the American Bar Association's Forum on Franchising. Mr. Shelley currently serves as a member of the Executive Committee of the Business Law Section of the New York State Bar Association. Mr. Shelley is currently an Associate Editor of the ABA Forum on Franchising's Franchise Law Journal, and served as an Associate Editor of the Forum's The Franchise Lawyer from 2011 to 2014. He has published numerous franchise-related articles in Franchise World, Franchise Times, and The International Journal of Franchising Law. He is the co-author of "Preliminary Agreements: How to Avoid Unintended Contractual Obligations," 25 Franchise Law Journal 15 (2005); "The Uncharted Boundary Between Fair Competition and Tortious Conduct," 22 Franchise Law Journal 184 (2003); and "'Control' in Franchising and the Common Law," 19 Franchise Law Journal 119 (2000). Mr. Shelley served as a contributor and panelist at the International Franchise Association's 2009 and 2015 Legal Symposium; the American Bar Association's 2009 and 2006 Forum on Franchising; the Ontario Bar Association's Second Annual Franchise Law Conference in 2002; and numerous other franchise related legal programs. Mr. Shelley also served as a contributor to the Practicing Law Institute's "Understanding Franchising Business and Legal Issues" Symposium in June, 2001, and to the American Bar Association's Franchise Desk Book (2001, revised in 2007 and 2011).
Mr. Shelley has been designated a New York Metro Super Lawyer for 2013-2016. Super Lawyers is a rating service of lawyers from diverse practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The selection process is multi-phased and includes independent research, peer nomination and peer evaluations.
A graduate of the Villanova University School of Law (where he served as an editor of the Villanova Law Review), Mr. Shelley also holds two undergraduate degrees from the University of Notre Dame. He has been engaged in private practice since 1992, and has been with Kaufmann Gildin since 1996.
Mr. Shelley is admitted to practice in the state and federal courts in New York and Connecticut.
Sam A. Silverstein concentrates his practice in the areas of securities arbitration, commercial litigation and general corporate law. He represents investors, brokers and brokerage firms in commercial disputes before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). Mr. Silverstein also represents the firm's franchise and commercial clients in all phases of litigation, from pre-action investigation through trial and appeal.
Mr. Silverstein is a 2011 graduate from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where he was a member of the Cardozo Securities Arbitration Clinic and the Cardozo Business Law Society. Prior to law school, Mr. Silverstein was a Vice President in the Private Wealth Management divisions of two broker-dealers where he helped to raise and manage nearly $20 million in new capital for an advisory team that held over $100 million under management.