Richard M. Greenspan
Rick, is the principal of RICHARD M. GREENSPAN, P.C., and was admitted to the Bar in the State of California in 1974; the bar of the State of New York in 1976; the bar of State of New Jersey in 1978; and the bar of the State of Connecticut in 1997.Rick is admitted to, and has argued labor and employee benefit cases falling under ERISA regulation, in the District Courts in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, in the 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals; in the 3rd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals; in the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals; in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Colombia, and is also admitted to the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals as well as the Supreme Court of the United States. He appeared in hundreds of cases before the National Labor Relations Board (in Washington, DC, and in Regions 2, 29, 22, 7, 4, 3, 34, 12, etc., as well as before the New York Public Employment Relations Board; the New York State Employment Relations Board; the New Jersey Public Employment Commission, Connecticut Public Employment Relations Board and Commission on Human Rights, the EEOC, the New York Division of Human Rights, as well as before the IRS in employee benefit tax matters and the Department of Labor in connection with ERISA and LMRDA matters in addition to handling hundreds of labor arbitration cases and commercial arbitrations in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. The firm's practice involves substantial efforts at the various Labor Boards and handles all aspects of collective bargaining in the private and public sectors. The firm represents International Unions, National Unions, Local Unions, Divisions and Joint Boards, as well associated Health, Welfare, Pension, Retirement and Apprenticeship Training employee benefit funds.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Rick earned his Bachelor's Degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo (cum laude) in 1971; his Juris Doctor Degree from the University of San Diego School of Law in 1974; and has a Masters of Laws (LLM in Labor Law) awarded by New York University School of Law in 1978. In addition to managing the active legal practice, Rick served for several years, an adjunct professor teaching labor relations courses in the graduate masters degree program at the Graduate School of Management, New School For Social Research in New York City and continues to provide on-going education to the staffs of organizations that the firm represents.
Prior to establishing his own firm in New York City, Rick practiced in Los Angeles California, and then in New York where he became a specialist in Labor-Management Relations, LMRDA, and ERISA benefit plans and litigation with the law firm of Charles R. Katz, P.C.
In 1988 Rick moved the firm's offices to Westchester County, New York, where the firm has its office headquarters serving institutional, union, union related benefit funds and various business clients in New York and New Jersey.
The firm and its personnel are known locally and nationally, and have been Counsel of Record in leading cases many areas of labor relations, arbitrations, employee benefit plans and ERISA litigation. Many of the cases are often cited as prime authority before the National Labor Relations Board, PERC, PERB and in the Courts.
As a member of the American Bar Association, New York State Bar Association and New York County Bar Association, Rick also maintains membership in related professional committees involved with Employee Benefits and Labor and Employment Relations including the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans.
Contact Rick
Gary P. Rothman
Gary Rothman has been a practicing Labor, Employment and Benefits Funds lawyer for thirty years, during which time he has represented and counseled national labor and management clients in the private and public sectors. Mr. Rothman was associated with Richard M. Greenspan, P.C. for eight years during the 1990's, during which time he worked with all of our major clients and has now returned as a member of the firm after serving as a partner in a major New York City labor law firm. During his long career he has served Unions, as well as unionized and unorganized employers in industries as diverse as the construction trades, automotive, airline pilots, commercial baking, trucking, healthcare and nursing homes, warehousing, police and fire departments; sanitation, building services, national car rentals, home heating oil and pet supplies.Mr. Rothman has worked with unions on all matters of union organizing, contract administration, negotiations, arbitration, employment practices and wage and hour matters, as well as their affiliated benefit funds to ensure their proper administration in accordance with applicable plan documents and attention to participant communications and appeals; and the diligent collection of delinquent benefit fund contributions. In all of this work, Mr. Rothman ensures our labor and benefit fund clients fulfill their duties of fair representation and meet their fiduciary duties under the law.
Mr. Rothman has also represented clients in the defense of discrimination claims at the EEOC, the various state human rights agencies and in State and Federal Court litigation. He is proud to say his philosophy of lawyering is to team up with our clients to provide the high quality professional service union members and benefit fund participants deserve.
Mr. Rothman is committed to educating and training our clients in matters of importance to them and developments in the law. In this regard he has spoken publicly to business and trade groups on such issues as the union's duty of fair representation; the Supreme Court's developing law on supervisory status under the NLRA; the status of the inflatable rat in union organizing campaigns; bannering and secondary activity; other developments in NLRB law and prevailing wage compliance. He has also worked with his clients to develop and present shop steward training programs.
Mr. Rothman is admitted to practice in the federal and state courts in New York and New Jersey and is a member of the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, where he is a regular participant in its annual collection institute.
Contact Gary
Eric J. LaRuffa
Eric was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1991 and has been with the firm since 1996. In addition to the state bar, he is admitted in the federal courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. Eric received his Bachelor of Arts degree cum laude from Hofstra University his Juris Doctor degree and certificate of excellence in Labor Law from Hofstra University School of Law. His association memberships include the New York State Bar Association and Phi Beta Kappa.Active in the labor movement since 1982, Eric has concentrated, primarily, in the fields of labor and employment law throughout his career. He has represented unions and employees in hundreds of arbitration proceedings in the public and private sectors during his career. Eric has over two decades of experience in the presenting and advocating in cases before the National Labor Relations Board. He frequently represents public sector unions and employees before the New York State Public Employment Relations Board, the New Jersey Public Employment Relations Commission ane the Connecticut State Board of Labor Relations. Eric is well versed in the handling of EEOC and related state discrimination law matters as well as other cases before other state and federal agencies involved with labor and employment law and regulation. He has successfully completed negotiations of collective bargaining agreements in both the private and public sectors.
Eric's personal dedication to client affairs and, as a former union official himself, his institutional understanding, complements his efforts to achieve the best results possible for our clients.
Contact Eric
Matthew P. Rocco
Matthew Rocco has experience in representing clients in litigation matters involving a broad array of common law and statutory claims under the LMRA, ERISA, the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act, Title VII and the Americans With Disabilities Act. Mr. Rocco also handles numerous arbitration proceedings for the firm's union and employee benefit fund clients, as well as administrative matters before the NLRB, PERB and PERC.
Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Rocco was an attorney at a Manhattan labor law firm where he was successful in winning summary judgment in a number of cases, including one in which two companies were found to constitute a single employer and held jointly and severally liable for millions of dollars in unpaid contributions to the benefit funds. He has participated in filing amicus curiae briefs in New Jersey, in one case holding that a town sign ordinance applied to prohibit a union from displaying a 10-foot-tall rat balloon as part of a labor protest on a public sidewalk, was unconstitutional.
While in law school, Mr. Rocco also spent a year working full-time and then part-time at the United States Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration. Mr. Rocco is a member of the state bars in New York and New Jersey and is also admitted to practice in the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York; he is also a member of the New York State Bar Association and its Labor and Employment Law Section. Matthew earned a Bachelor of Science in Industrial and Labor Relations from the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations. While there he was named to the Dean's List and was a member of the Cornell University Ambassadors. Matthew received his Juris Doctor from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University in New York City, where he was a member of the Labor and Employment Law Clinic and participated in the International Mediation Competition.
Contact Matt