Daniel F. Kolb
Lawyers
Senior counsel after 38 years as a partner in our Litigation practice.
Dan has more than 45 years of experience as a practicing litigator and trial lawyer in both federal and state courts throughout the United States. Since he became a senior counsel in 2011, he has devoted himself primarily to service as a mediator and arbitrator and to handling impact cases for those in need.
Dan has been appointed to serve as a Mediator in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and New York’s Supreme Court Commercial Division and Appellate Division for the First Department. He is also a member of the AAA Commercial and Accounting Panels of Arbitrators and CPR’s Panel of Distinguished Neutrals.
He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and serves on the Board of Directors of the Brennan Center for Justice.
Experience
- Designated Arbitrator by two Fortune 100 corporations to resolve disputes between them arising out of a multi-billion dollar cross-border joint venture agreement
- Arbitrator in AAA arbitration brought by major corporations involving complex commercial contract claims as to distressed debts ranging into the hundreds of millions of dollars
- Representation of U.S. Fortune 100 corporation in the arbitration of a contract dispute with a major European corporation
- Representation of major professional firms in numerous mediations arising out of the failures of major financial institutions, including successively the three largest bank failures in the history of the United States, several Fortune 500 corporations and the largest insurance company in North America
- Representation of law firms in mediations arising out of malpractice claims in excess of $100 million dollars
- Representation of New York’s Legal Aid Society in its pursuit of funding for effective defense of indigents in criminal matters
- Along with The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, representation of plaintiffs in mass actions brought on behalf of individuals scammed when they sought mortgage modifications
- Significant involvement in Election Protection efforts coordinated by The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
- Successful submission of an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in Caperton v. Massey Corporation on behalf of major corporations and business organizations seeking a decision that the due process clause of the U.S. Constitution required recusal by a justice of the Supreme Court of West Virginia who had received exceptionally large campaign contributions from a party
- Successful submission of an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in Haywood v. Drown on behalf of law school professors seeking reversal of a New York Court of Appeals decision affirming the State’s grant of immunity to corrections officers from civil rights-based damage claims
- Further examples of representation of those in need include serving as counsel for a class of preschool children in the City of New York seeking disability benefits provided by law, successful representation of a death row inmate and representation of indigent defendants in appeals after murder and robbery convictions
Recognition
Office of the Appellate Defender – Gould Award for Outstanding Advocacy
Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights – Whitney North Seymour Award for Exemplary Support for Those in Need
Legal Aid Society – Award for Outstanding Pro Bono Service, received several times
Education
J.D., University of Michigan Law School
- cum laude
- Order of the Coif
- Member, Michigan Law Review
A.B., College of the Holy Cross
Prior experience
- Senior Counsel, 2011-present
- Practice Coordinator, Litigation Practice, 1989-1998
- Head of Washington DC Office, 1980-1988
- Partner, 1973-2011
- Associate, 1965-1972
Qualifications and admissions
- State of New York
- U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit
- U.S. District Court, E.D. New York
- U.S. District Court, S.D. New York
- U.S. Supreme Court