Family Law Section

Rosalia Baiamonte, Esq.

Gassman Baiamonte Gruner, P.C.

Garden City, NY
Ms. Baiamonte was admitted to the NY Bar in January, 1994. Since her admission, Ms. Baiamonte has been engaged exclusively in the practice of matrimonial and family law.

Ms. Baiamonte is a graduate of Brandeis University (B.S., cum laude, 1990) and Syracuse University College of Law (J.D., magna cum laude, 1993). After graduating law school, Ms. Baiamonte was an associate of the Garden City firm of DaSilva & Keidel from October 1993 through February 1996. During this time, she was Associate Editor of the Domestic Relations Reporter, a legal publication by Matthew Bender. In March, 1996, Ms. Baiamonte became an associate of Stephen Gassman, Esq., a renowned leader in the field of matrimonial and family law. Ms. Baiamonte was named a member of the firm on August 1, 2007, at which time the firm was renamed Gassman, Baiamonte, Betts & Tannenbaum, P.C., thereafter, succeeded by Gassman Baiamonte Gruner, P.C.

Since 1994, Ms. Baiamonte has been and remains an active member of the Nassau County Bar Association. A long-standing member of the NCBA Matrimonial Law Committee, Ms. Baiamonte served as its Chair from June 2015-June 2017. She received The Richard J. Keidel Memorial Award in recognition of her professionalism and contributions as a skilled advocate and leader in the practice of matrimonial law.
She served on the NCBA Judiciary Committee from July 2009 through June 2015, serving as Vice Chair from July 2013-June 2014, and as Chair from July 2014-June 2015, for which she received the NCBA Directors’ Award for Outstanding Service. Ms. Baiamonte has served as a member of the Board of Directors (2013-2016), as the NCBA Secretary and Treasurer, and in June 2020, she was installed as the NCBA Vice President.

Ms. Baiamonte is also an active member of the New York State Bar Association, Family Law Section and has served on its Executive Committee since 2011. She has held the Office of the Family Law Section’s Treasurer (2014-2016), Secretary (2016-2018), and Vice Chair (2018-2020), and in February 2020, she was installed as Chair of the Family Law Section. Ms. Baiamonte also serves as a Co-Chair of the Continuing Legal Education Committee, as well as Program Co-Chair of the Section’s Annual and Summer Meetings and Sponsorships.

In 2017, Ms. Baiamonte was installed as a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, New York Chapter. She is also a Fellow of the New York Bar Foundation. In 2018 she was installed as one of the Outstanding Women in Law by the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University.

Ms. Baiamonte has served as an Arbitrator in the Early Neutral Evaluation Program in the Nassau County Supreme Court, and currently serves as a Discovery Referee in the Matrimonial Parts as well as a Part 137 Fee Arbitrator for the 10th Judicial District.

Ms. Baiamonte is certified as a Collaborative Interdisciplinary Attorney.

Ms. Baiamonte is an Editor of Library of New York Matrimonial Law Forms, a 1,350+ page compendium of matrimonial law forms available through the New York Law Journal (©2012).

Ms. Baiamonte has extensive experience dealing with a full range of matrimonial issues, among them: agreements (pre-nuptial, post-nuptial, and separation), custody and visitation, equitable distribution, spousal and child support issues, license and professional practice valuations, enforcement and modification proceedings, awards of counsel fees and experts’ fees. Ms. Baiamonte has extensive appellate advocacy experience, having prosecuted and defended dozens of appeals involving complex matrimonial and family law issues, most notably: Nerayoff v. Rokhsar, 168 A.D.3d 1071, 93 N.Y.S.3d 96 (2nd Dept., 2019); Gassman Baiamonte Gruner, P.C. v. Katz, 164 A.D.3d 790, 82 N.Y.S.2d 136 (2nd Dept., 2018); DeFilippis v. DeFilippis, 146 A.D.3d 750, 45 N.Y.S.3d 175 (2nd Dept., 2017); Barnes-Levitin v. Levitin, 131 A.D.3d 98716 N.Y.S.3d 460 (Mem) (2nd Dept., 2015); Beroza v. Hendler, 109 A.D.3d 498, 970 N.Y.S.2d 313 (2nd Dept., 2013); Goncalves v. Goncalves, 105 A.D.3d 901, 963 N.Y.S.2d 686 (2nd Dept., 2013); Chesner v. Chesner, 95 A.D.3d 1252, 945 N.Y.S.2d 409 (2nd Dept., 2012); Beroza v. Hendler, 71 A.D.3d 615, 896 N.Y.S.2d 144 (2nd Dept., 2010); Kriftcher v. Kriftcher, 59 A.D.3d 392, 874 N.Y.S.2d 153 (2nd Dept., 2009); DeMille v. DeMille, 5 A.D.3d 428, 774 N.Y.S.2d 156 (2nd Dept., 2004); DeMille v. DeMille, 32 A.D.3d 411, 820 N.Y.S.2d 111 (2nd Dept., 2006); Matter of Brim v. Combs, 25 A.D.3d, 691, 808 N.Y.S.2d 735 (2nd Dept., 2006); Matter of Brim v. Combs, 17 A.D.3d 361, 792 N.Y.S.2d 568 (2nd Dept., 2005); Klein v. Klein, 296 A.D.2d 533, 745 N.Y.S.2d 569 (2nd Dept., 2002); Rindos v. Rindos, 264 A.D.2d 722, 694 N.Y.S.2d 735 (2nd Dept., 1999); and Vigliotti v. Vigliotti, 260 A.D.2d 470, 688 N.Y.S.2d 198 (2nd Dept., 1999).

Ms. Baiamonte lectures extensively on a variety of topics pertaining to matrimonial and family law for various County and Statewide Bar and Judicial groups, and she has appeared as a guest lecturer at various law schools, including Hofstra University School of Law, C.W. Post and St. John’s University School of Law.

Susan L. Bender, Esq.

Bender & Rosenthal LLP

New York, NY
Susan L. Bender was admitted to practice law in the State of New York in 1980. Susan has an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell. In the more than forty years that she has been in practice, matrimonial practice has occupied approximately ninety (90%) percent of her time.

Ms. Bender is a Fellow of the American College of Family Trial Lawyers. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, and a former Vice President of the New York Chapter. Chief Administrative Judges Ann Pfau and A. Gail Prudenti appointed Susan to serve on the Matrimonial Practice Advisory and Rules Committee of the New York State Office of Court Administration, and the Honorable Justice Peter Tom appointed Susan to the Board of Governors of the New York State Attorney-Client Fee Dispute Resolution Program.

Ms. Bender was appointed by Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye to the New York Judicial Committee on Women in the Courts, and is a former member of the Advisory Committee on Civil Practice having been appointed by former Chief Administrator of OCA, Matthew T. Crossen. She was appointed by Judge Betty W. Ellerin to the First Department Judicial Committee to Certify Law Guardians. She was appointed by Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye to the Matrimonial Commission chaired by the Honorable Sondra Miller. She was appointed by Justice John T. Buckley to the Law Guardian Advisory Committee of the Appellate Division, First Department. Ms. Bender was appointed to the Matrimonial Practice Advisory and Rules Committee of the Office of Court Administration, which is currently chaired by the Honorable Jeffrey S. Sunshine.

Ms. Bender is a past President of the Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York (WBASNY), remains a member of WBASNY and is a member of the WBASNY Advisory Committee. She is a former Chair of the New York City Bar Matrimonial Committee. Ms. Bender is a member of the Interdisciplinary Forum and formerly a member of its Executive Committee. She is a founding member, former Vice President, Secretary and current board member of Judges and Lawyers Breast Cancer Alert (JALBCA); a member of the Executive Committee of the New York State Bar Association Family Law Committee; a member of LeGal (Lesbian and Gay Lawyers Association); and a member of the American Bar Association Family Law Section. Susan is a frequent lecturer, an arbitrator and advocate in arbitration proceedings, a mediator in family law matters, and she has served as a Special Referee by Court appointment.

She has recently been certified as an arbitrator by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. Ms. Bender is routinely chosen to be included in “The Best Lawyers in America” published by Woodward/White, Inc. and is routinely named a “Super Lawyer.”

Christopher J. Chimeri, Esq.

Quatela Chimeri PLLC

Hauppauge, NY
Christopher J. Chimeri is a founding partner with the firm and oversees its Matrimonial and Family Law and Appellate Practice areas, tirelessly taking great pride in being personally acquainted with each such matter being handled by the attorneys at Quatela Chimeri.

Immersing himself in all aspects of matrimonial, family and appellate practice from the inception of his legal career, Chimeri places supreme value on providing his clients, in whom he takes a distinct personal interest, with a holistic approach to their legal matters. An already-seasoned trial lawyer, Chimeri focuses on delivering the highest standard of advocacy in matrimonial and family law matters. Whether at a negotiation table or in the courtroom, Chimeri and his matrimonial team are complemented with counsel from his partners and associates who concentrate in federal and state court practice, civil and commercial litigation, as well as transactional business matters, yielding a broader base of experience on which to draw in complex financial divorce matters that are typical of his clientele. With emphasis on high end service to all clients, Chimeri is proud to have been rated “Superb,” achieving a 10 out of 10 rating on Avvo.com, one of the leading attorney rating sites.

Led by Mr. Chimeri, the firm’s dedication to the LGBTQ community is noteworthy for providing guidance and advocacy for same-sex couples and LGBTQ individuals. A trailblazer in representation for LGBTQ families, Chris is a co-founder and co-chair of the Suffolk County Bar Association’s LGBTQ Law Committee, the first committee of its kind within a bar association on Long Island and was the lead attorney on numerous recent landmark appellate decisions involving lesbian couples. He has successfully argued on behalf of numerous clients to allow the estranged same-sex partner of a biological parent to seek custody and visitation rights.

Chimeri also values scholarship in the profession as a means of consistently honing his knowledge and skills. In this regard, he sits on the Board of Directors of the Matrimonial Bar Association of Suffolk County, holding an executive position, and actively participates within the Nassau County Bar Association on various committees such as the Matrimonial Law Committee, as well as authors the Nassau Academy of Law’s annual Hon. Elaine Jackson Stack Moot Court Competition program for law students.

Chimeri regularly lectures for the Suffolk County Bar Association, Suffolk County Matrimonial Bar Association, Nassau County Bar Association, and New York State Bar Association on matters in family and matrimonial litigation. He frequently publishes articles concerning matrimonial trial and appellate litigation and maintains a monthly column regarding LGBTQ issues in the law in The Suffolk Lawyer.

Alexis L. Cirel, Esq.

Schwartz Sladkus Reich Greenberg Atlas LLP

New York, NY
Alexis L. Cirel is a partner in the Matrimonial, Family & Reproductive Law Group at Schwartz Sladkus Reich Greenberg Atlas, a full-service law firm in Manhattan. In addition to her matrimonial practice, Alexis is a recognized leader in the quickly evolving area of reproductive family law. She was instrumental in the recent passage of the Child-Parent Security Act, legislation that legalizes gestational surrogacy in New York and ensures protections for New York families formed through the use of assisted reproduction, including being appointed to the Campaign Leadership Committee of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s efforts to pass the law. Alexis is a member of the New York City Bar Association’s Matrimonial Committee, the Interdisciplinary Forum on Mental Health and Family Law, the American Bar Association’s Committee on Assisted Reproductive Technologies, and WBASNY’s Health and Reproductive Rights Committee. She also serves on the board of the Chick Mission, Inc., a nonprofit organization focused on fertility preservation for cancer patients, and on the Grant Committee for Men Having Babies Gay Parenting Assistance Program. Alexis is deeply committed to providing compassionate legal expertise to all clients – whether they are going through a marriage dissolution or embarking on an exciting but complicated journey to building a family through third party assisted reproduction arrangements.

Patience W. Crozier, Esq.

Senior Staff Attorney at GLAD

Boston, MA
Patience “Polly” Crozier joined GLAD in October 2016 as Senior Staff Attorney. Polly came to GLAD from private practice where her work focused on LGBTQ probate and family law, including adoption, divorce, dissolution, guardianship, paternity, parentage, name changes, gender marker changes and assisted reproduction issues. At her small firm, Polly engaged in cutting-edge litigation involving assisted reproduction and parentage issues including Adoption of a Minor. She has partnered with GLAD on important precedent-setting family law cases including Hunter v. Rose, where she served as trial counsel and co-counsel on appeal, and Partanen v. Gallagher, where she worked on the appellate team. Polly authored a chapter for Transgender Family Law: A Guide to Effective Advocacy and has helped train the justices and guardians ad litem of the Massachusetts Probate and Family Court on transgender issues.

Polly is a graduate of Yale University and Boston College Law School, and she served as a law clerk to the Honorable Irma S. Raker of the Maryland Court of Appeals and to the Justices of the Massachusetts Probate and Family Court.

Brian Esser, Esq.

Law Office of Brian Esser

Brooklyn, NY
Brian Esser is a solo practitioner whose practice focuses on building families through adoption, surrogacy, and assisted reproductive technology, and protecting families through proper estate planning. He regularly works with clients pursuing private placement adoption, as well as families securing the parental rights of a non-biological parent through a second-parent adoption. He also counsels families on sperm donor agreements, and other aspects of assisted reproductive technology. He has a particular interest in helping LGBT people build their families.

Brian started his career at Arnold & Porter in Washington, DC before moving to Baker & Hostetler’s New York office. He has had the pleasure of working with industry leaders such as Visa, Philip Morris, and Bank of New York Mellon, as well as representing Irving Picard, the trustee in the liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities. He served two terms as president of the board of directors of the National LGBT Bar Foundation, and is a founding board member of Equality New York, a statewide LGBT advocacy organization. Brian is a fellow of the Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys, and member of the ABA’s Family Law Section Committees on Adoption and Assisted Reproductive Technology. He has been recognized by his peers as a Super Lawyers Rising Star and one of the Top LGBT Lawyers under 40 by the National LGBT Bar Association. He and his husband Kevin live in Park Slope, Brooklyn and have two sons through open adoption.

Judge Ellen Gesmer

Associate Justice, Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, First Department

The Hon. Ellen Gesmer is a justice on the First Department of the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division. She was appointed to the court by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in February 2016. She received her B.A. degree from Harvard College in 1972 and her J.D. degree from Yale Law School in 1976.

Justice Gesmer began her career in 1976 as a law clerk to the Hon. Joseph Tauro. The following year, she joined Bedford-Stuyvesant Community Legal Services, serving first as a staff attorney, then a supervising attorney, and eventually the Director of Litigation. From 1983 to 1984, she was a clinical assistant professor at the University of Michigan Law School, and then she joined the law firm of Teitelbaum & Hiller, P.C. as an associate. In 1987, she became a partner of the firm of Gulielmetti & Gesmer, P.C. She practiced there through 2003, when she was elected a judge of the New York City Civil Court. She was assigned to the Kings County Civil Court in 2004, the New York County Civil Court in 2005 and the New York City Criminal Court in 2006. In October 2006, she was appointed an acting Supreme Court Justice, and was assigned to a matrimonial part, first in Bronx Supreme Court and then, in April 2009, in New York County. In 2011, she was elected to the Supreme Court, and continued to preside over a matrimonial part until she was appointed to the Appellate Division in 2016.

Justice Gesmer serves on the Matrimonial Practice Advisory and Rules Committee, an advisory committee to the Chief Judge. She is also active in the National Association of Women Judges, the New York City Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association and the Women’s Bar Association. She is a member of the Board of Directors of JALBCA and Dancing in the Streets. Before going on the bench, she served on the Legal Advisory Committee of Sanctuary for Families and was a public member of the Rent Guidelines Board.

Justice Gesmer lectures frequently to judges, lawyers and law students on topics in family law, including mental health issues in divorce law, settlement techniques and surrogacy, as well as on topics in civil procedure and trial practice.

Jennifer L. Levi, Esq.

Director of Transgender Rights Project at GLAD

Boston, MA
Jennifer L. Levi is the director of GLAD’s Transgender Rights Project and a nationally recognized expert on transgender legal issues. She is one of two transgender attorneys leading the legal fight against President Trump’s transgender military ban in both Doe v. Trump and Stockman v. Trump.

Levi’s precedent-setting transgender rights cases include: O’Donnabhain v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue (2010), which established that medical care relating to gender transition qualifies for a medical tax deduction; Adams v. Bureau of Prisons (2011), which successfully challenged a federal prison policy excluding medical care for transgender inmates who came into the system without a transitionrelated medical plan; and Doe v. Clenchy (2014), in which the first state high court ruled that a transgender girl must be fully integrated into her public elementary school as a girl, including having full and equal access to restrooms.

In Doe v. MA Department of Correction (2018), Jennifer represented Angelina Resto, a now formerly incarcerated transgender woman, in her successful effort to be transferred to a women’s correctional facility – the first such transfer as the result of a court order in the country.

Levi was co-counsel in two landmark marriage equality cases, winning the freedom to marry for same-sex couples in Massachusetts (Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, 2003) and Connecticut (Kerrigan v. Department of Public Health, 2008), and recently secured a groundbreaking child-centered parentage ruling at the Vermont Supreme Court in Sinnott v. Peck (2017).

Levi is a law professor at Western New England University, co-editor of Transgender Family Law: A Guide to Effective Advocacy (2012), and serves on the Legal Committee of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health. She is a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School and a former law clerk to the Honorable Judge Michael Boudin at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

Peter R. Stambleck, Esq.

Aronson Mayefsky & Sloan, LLP

New York, NY
Peter is a partner with Aronson Mayefsky & Sloan, LLP in New York. His practice is focused on providing counsel in a wide range of matrimonial and family law matters including divorce, child custody and access, spousal and child support, paternity, prenuptial, postnuptial and separation agreements.

Prior to joining the Firm, Peter worked as a Certified Public Accountant at Pricewaterhouse Coopers. His background in finance and accounting provides him with a skill set and perspective unique in the practice of family law.

He is active in the New York State Bar Association where he serves as Co-Chair of the Family Law Section’s Continuing Legal Education Committee, its Financial Officer and is also a member of the Family Law Section’s Executive Committee. Peter is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and a member of the Family Law Section of the American Bar Association.
Peter earned his B.S. in finance and accounting from Indiana University and his Juris Doctor from Brooklyn Law School. He is admitted to the New York and Connecticut State Bars.

Eric Wrubel, Esq.

Warshaw Burstein, LLP

New York, NY
Mr. Wrubel’s legal practice is devoted to handling complex family and matrimonial matters. He is accomplished in negotiating the amicable dissolution of marriages as well as taking these cases to trial if settlement is not possible.
In addition, he has years of experience in the New York Appellate Courts. Mr. Wrubel has dealt with a large variety of issues in family and matrimonial matters, including complex equitable distribution questions, novel support and custody issues, as well as being on the forefront in same-gender marital issues. He has tried cases involving children travelling with serious medical problems internationally, cross-examined numerous financial experts, and handled many matters involving high net worth individuals with assets that are difficult to value and distribute. A skilled trial lawyer and appellate advocate, Mr. Wrubel was involved in the trial and appeal of the seminal case in New York dealing with the validity of foreign pre-nuptial agreements. He has litigated, written and lectured extensively on same gender marriage and divorce, civil unions, domestic partnerships and their tax consequences. Mr. Wrubel is an adjunct professor at the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law.