Lecturer Bios
Sylvia E. Di Pietro, Esq.
Sylvia E. Di Pietro, Esq., maintains a practice that focuses on traditional areas of Real Estate Law providing counsel and contractual negotiations with respect to Real Estate, Condo and CO-OP Closings, Commercial Leasing and Litigation. The firm also handles the drafting of Wills, Trusts and Estate Matters, Contested Surrogate Court Litigation and Article 81 Counseling and Petitions. The firm also specializes in the representation of authors, agencies and publishers in contract negotiations, and litigation involving Copyright Infringement over the Internet. Legal Services include the negotiation and drafting of Risk Management Contracts in the Television and Entertainment Industries. Pro Bono activities take the form of counseling individuals in Matrimonial Law.
Sylvia E. Di Pietro, is a native New Yorker, and admitted to practice law before the courts of the State of New York, the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York. She is the Chairman of the Real Property Section of New York County Lawyers’ Association and also a member of its Trusts and Estate Section. She is also a member of the American Bar Association, The New York State Bar Association where she was a member of the Special Committee on Cyberspace Law, The New York Women’s Bar Association where she has acted as a Delegate to the State Board of Directors, the City Bar, where she is a member of and the State Court of Superior Jurisdiction and Columbian Lawyers Association.
Prior to entering law, Sylvia enjoyed a rich career as an official court reporter in the Supreme Courts of Queens and Kings County reporting major civil and criminal trials. Thereafter, she was the Managing Director of Forsythe International Limited in New York, a premium incentive marketing company, specializing in promoting creative ideas to Fortune 500 Companies. As Owner of her own consulting company, her work focused on the research and marketing of Intellectual Properties, creating advertising and sales promotional campaigns and handling all aspects of public relations and media placement.
As an accomplished public speaker, Sylvia has appeared on numerous national radio shows on topic covering issues related to retirement and estate planning, relationship conflicts over money, the need for prenuptial agreements, the Boston Catholic Church, cyber adultery, father’s rights and custody issues.
She also participates as a Pro Bono Employer/Mentor with CUNY’s Associate Degree Program at New York City College of Technology, Legal Assistant Studies Department, where she mentors paralegal students prior to seeking employment.
Adam Leitman Bailey, Esq.
Actively at the helm of the law firm he built from scratch, Adam Leitman Bailey, Esq. practices residential and commercial real estate law. Among New York's most successful and prominent real estate attorneys, Mr. Bailey has been identified among the top five percent of attorneys in the New York area, repeatedly named a Super Lawyer by Law & Politics magazine and honored with a Martindale-Hubbell "AV" Preeminent rating.
During the past five years, the internationally esteemed Chambers & Partners repeatedly selected Mr. Bailey as one of New York's Leading Real Estate lawyers and, being one of only three New York attorneys from firms with fewer than 30 attorneys to receive the honor. Chambers & Partners hailed Mr. Bailey as a "tenacious and confident litigator who is quick-witted in court and respected by the judges," noting that Bailey is "an extraordinary practitioner who gets great results" and quoting a client on Mr. Bailey's "ability to anticipate things before they happen." "He has been hired to litigate extremely high-profile cases…sources are highly impressed by his courtroom presence." "You feel like you have a zealous advocate out there working for you, and you never worry about things when they are in his hands."
Real Estate Weekly recognized that "Adam Leitman Bailey has made a name for himself with his success winning cases in the courtroom." The same newspaper called Mr. Bailey "famous" for his "condominium, foreclosure and landlord-tenant representation." The New York Times referred to his legal strategy and legislation proposed in one case as "novel," in addition to remarking on another case in which "Adam Leitman Bailey fought on…grinding through excruciating detail and obscure Perry Mason moments." After Mr. Bailey's firm used a forgotten statute to prevail in a landmark case, the Wall Street Journal quoted a prominent New York developer's attorney who called the holding a "game changer" affecting real estate nationwide. In another case hailed as "the city's largest condo refund ever" (Curbed NY) involving "a settlement likely to send shivers through the ranks of the city's condo developers" (the New York Post), the settlement he received was the largest condominium settlement in history for one building, and in another transaction, he obtained the largest government grant ($21 million) for a cooperative in New York history. The Commercial Observer ranked another victory among their "15 Most Fascinating New York Real Estate Cases of the 21st Century."
Dateline NBC referred to Mr. Bailey as "aggressive, tenacious and smart" in asking him to share his negotiating secrets on its nationally syndicated television program. Mr. Bailey's advocacy has prevailed in numerous important trials and cases before various courts and trial venues, including Housing, Civil, and New York State Supreme and Federal Courts, as well as various New York Appellate tribunals. A New York State Judge wrote that Mr. Bailey "was the best trial lawyer I saw in my nine years as a Judge in New York City."
MAGDA L. CRUZ, ESQ.
Ms. Cruz specializes in appeals and complex litigation matters. She has briefed and argued appeals before New York State and Federal appellate courts involving constitutional law, property rights, commercial law, loft law, cooperative and condominium law, tax incentive law, administrative law, landlord-tenant law, mortgage foreclosure law and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act. Her major appellate victories on behalf of owners include owner-occupancy, succession rights, non-primary residence, lease rights, attorneys' fees, and rent overcharge cases. Ms. Cruz also successfully obtained one of the largest Rule 130 sanctions award that the Court of Appeals has ever imposed against a party and its attorney for frivolous litigation.
Ms. Cruz is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center. Prior to joining the firm, she held positions with the New York County District Attorney's Office, The Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius in Miami, Florida, and Rosenberg & Estis, P.C., in New York. In addition, Ms. Cruz has served on the Board of Directors of two cooperative apartment corporations in Brooklyn, New York.
Ms. Cruz is a member of the Housing Court Advisory Council, and Women in Housing and Finance.
Hon. Fern Fisher
Justice Fern Fisher serves as Deputy Chief Administrative Judge for New York City Courts and is also charged with state-wide responsibility for access to justice issues. Justice Fisher's career started in the Civil Court as a Legal Services attorney practicing in Manhattan Housing Court. Justice Fisher served as Deputy Director of Harlem Legal Services, Inc. and as an Assistant Attorney General of the New York State Department of Law. For four years, she provided pro bono legal services to Harlem-based community organizations as a project director of the National Conference of Black Lawyers. In 1989, she was appointed Judge of the Housing Part of the Civil Court, and later, in 1990, was elected to the Civil Court where she served as Deputy Supervising Judge. Justice Fisher was elected in 1993 to the Supreme Court of the State of New York where she was assigned to the City and Matrimonial Parts. In December 1996, she was appointed Administrative Judge of the Civil Court of the City of New York where she served until March 2009 when she was appointed to her current position.
Justice Fisher contributes the views from the bench in Residential Landlord-Tenant Law in New York, a practice guide by Lawyers Cooperative Publishing. She served as the host of a series of television shows on housing issues for Crosswalk's, a public service cable show. Justice Fisher is a founding member of the Metropolitan Black Bar Association and is a member of Judicial Friends (an affiliate of the Judicial Council of the National Bar Association), the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and the New York County Lawyers Association. Justice Fisher also served as the Chair of the Housing Court (Judges) Disciplinary Committee and Chair of the Anti-Bias Committee of the New York County Supreme Court. In 2006 she was the recipient of the Harvard Law School Gary Bellow Public Interest Award. She received her B.A. summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa in 1975 from Howard University and a J.D. in 1978 from Harvard Law School.
David Hershey-Webb, Esq.
David Hershey-Webb is a graduate of Columbia University (U.S. History, 1983) and Golden Gate University School of Law (1992, J.D. cum laude). David is a partner at Himmelstein, McConnell, Gribben, Donoghue & Joseph and has been with the firm since 2001. David specializes in DHCR related litigation and has won significant decisions in favor of tenants including Columbus 95 v. DHCR (Appeallate Division decision holding that former Mitchell-Lamas are not entitled to "unique or peculiar" rent increases.) David argued at the New York State Court of Appeals in the case of Murphy v. DHCR."
David has published in the New York Law Journal (In the Wake of the 'Roberts' Decision, What Next? 12/1/09) and along with William Gribben and Ronald Languedoc drafted an Amicus Brief in the Roberts v. Tishman-Speyer case on behalf of Tenants and Neighbors and Met Council. David has taught CLE courses for the New York State Bar Association and Queens Bar Association. David has appeared as a speaker at the 2011 Massey Knakal Multifamily Summit.
Prior to joining Himmelstein, McConnell, David was a Community Advocate for New York State Assembly member Edward Sullivan from 1996-2000 and 1984-1986 where he advocated on behalf of low-income pro-se tenants in New York City Housing Court, and advised tenants and tenant associations on their rights. David has testified for tenants before the RGB, DHCR, New York City Council and the Assembly Housing Committee. David is a member of the New York, California and Massachusetts bars. He is a singer-songwriter and member of ASCAP. David is the former lead singer of the Love Handles, a rock and blues band and has released a CD of original country-rock-folk music, Welcome to the World, which is available at www.davidhershey-webb.com
Hon. Jean T. Schneider
Supervising Judge, Housing Court, Civil Court of the City of New York, Kings County, Appointed by Chief Administrative Judge A. Gail Prudenti, 2012 to Present
Supervising Judge, Housing Court, Civil Court of the City of New York, New York County, Appointed by Chief Administrative Judge, Ann Pfau, 2009 to 2011
Judge, Housing Court, Civil Court of the City of New York, New York County;, Appointed by Chief Administrative Judge Jonathan Lippman, 1997 to 2007; Re-appointed, 2008 to 2012; Re-appointed by Chief Administrative Judge A. Gail Prudenti, 2012 to 2017
