Hon. Alan D. Scheinkman’s remarkable legal career as both a judge and litigator include his appointment as the Presiding Justice of the Second Judicial Department of the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division. During his tenure on the Appellate bench, he heard a wide variety of appeals including complex litigation matters such as business disputes, labor and employment, partnerships, landlord and tenant, commercial foreclosure cases, business receiverships, business torts (fraud and deceit, usurpation of business opportunities), matrimonial and family law, trusts and estates, defamation, land use and construction, health law, and wage and hour cases. He also created and presided over special panels hearing commercial, matrimonial, estate, and land use appeals. Judge Scheinkman applies his expansive knowledge and experience in his capacity as a Hearing Officer at NAM overseeing a broad array of matters including business, contracts, construction, and consumer finance matters.

As the Presiding Justice, Judge Scheinkman oversaw the largest and busiest appellate court in the country hearing matters from three counties in New York City and matters from Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester counties, as well as four other counties in the lower Hudson Valley. He was responsible for the management of all operations of the courts which are comprised of 21 judges, determined over 4,000 appeals and 12,000 motions annually, and was also responsible for oversight of the discipline and admission of attorneys. Judge Scheinkman was a member of the Administrative Board of the Courts, setting state-wide court policy and also served by designation on the Court of Appeals. As an appellate judge, trial judge, and litigator, Judge Scheinkman has handled all types of employment cases including breach of contract, trade secrets, confidentiality agreements, covenants not to complete, wrongful termination, discrimination, sexual harassment, and wage and hour disputes.

Additionally, Judge Scheinkman has experience in overseeing numerous matters relating to cybersecurity and data privacy. He handled both civil and criminal cases presenting issues of electronic surveillance and improper access to computer information. A significant matter that Judge Scheinkman arbitrated dealt with the effect of the New Jersey Computer Related Offenses Act in New York State. It was claimed that the defendants had violated the Act by copying the information from the plaintiff company’s computer system and then used the information in a competing business and further alleged that the defendant had violated common law standards of fiduciary duty by copying digital information on his/her employer’s computer system and then using it to compete against the former employer. Further, he has handled numerous discovery disputes wherein there were claims involving the tampering of computer information.

In 2006, Judge Scheinkman was elected to the New York State Supreme Court, Ninth Judicial District, where he was immediately assigned to serve as the Justice, Presiding of the Commercial Division. During the next eleven years, he heard all manner of complex commercial litigation disputes and presided over jury and non-jury trials and hearings as well as thousands of motions and case conferences. These included partnership and business disputes, contract disputes, employment termination and discrimination claims, disputes over major construction projects, wage and hour, class actions, landlord/tenant matters, and security class actions. Judge Scheinkman was instrumental in settling a majority of the cases that were pending in the commercial division due to his hands-on approach and relatability to the parties and their counsel. He also oversaw the Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Conference Part which primarily involved cases when a lender sought to foreclose on a home against the borrower.

In addition to his Commercial Division responsibilities, he presided over the Matrimonial Trial Assignment Part where he mediated hundreds of cases to settlement. As a result of his extensive experience with matrimonial cases as a litigator, he was acutely aware of the enormous stress and emotional toll that the divorce process has on those involved. Judge Scheinkman worked with both the clients and their attorneys in bringing parties to a mutually agreed upon resolution so that all can move forward emotionally, financially, and legally. He has authored practice commentaries and a treatise, both of which have been widely cited and relied upon by courts and attorneys. A strong supporter of alternative dispute resolution, Judge Scheinkman advocates for mediation as a means to resolution.

In 2009, while serving on the Supreme Court, he was appointed Administrative Judge for the Ninth Judicial District where he led several significant initiatives involving facility upgrades, technology implementation, and case management, all during a time of budgetary restraints. He also created and presided over the Westchester County Compliance Part, supervising discovery in all general civil litigation. From 2007 – 2009, he served as Associate Judge on the Appellate Term for the Ninth and Tenth Judicial Districts where he heard civil and criminal appeals from city, town, and village courts.

Prior to his judicial career, Judge Scheinkman was engaged in private practice and also served as Westchester County Attorney where he handled a wide variety of legal matters and disputes concentrating on commercial, employment discrimination, wrongful termination, matrimonial, and federal litigation. As a trial lawyer, he tried numerous cases to verdict and represented parties in mediation and arbitrations. His legal career began as a Law Clerk for the Honorable Matthew Jasen, Associate Judge of the New York Court of Appeals.

Judge Scheinkman was recognized by the legal community in 2024 when he was ranked in the Top 10 Individual Arbitrators in the state by the New York Law Journal “Best Of” survey. He was previously designated the #1 Arbitrator in the same prestigious survey. Judge Scheinkman served as an Associate Professor of Law at St. John’s University School of Law, authored and co-authored works on appellate practice and New York law, and has been actively engaged in various Bar Association committees and Statewide Commissions, including the Committee on Pattern Jury Instructions, the Commercial Division Advisory Council, and the Judicial Task Force on the State Constitution.
Judge Scheinkman is available to arbitrate and mediate commercial cases throughout the United States.