Gerald B. Lefcourt, Attorney

Media Profiles
Quoted in the News
Video
Speeches and Publications

Gerald B. Lefcourt has spent his legal career practicing principally in the areas of criminal law and complex civil litigation.  He is recognized as one of the country's foremost trial attorneys and is frequently called upon to represent individuals and corporations charged with the most serious crimes.  In his thirty years practicing law, his clients have spanned the spectrum, from Yippie founder Abbie Hoffman and Black Panther Party leaders to Drexel Burnham Lambert securities trader Bruce Newberg, real estate mogul Harry Helmsley, actor Russell Crowe, New York State Assembly Speaker Mel Miller, and hip hop music promoter and Murder Inc. record label head Irv Gotti.

Mr. Lefcourt serves as the Speaker of the N.Y.S. Assembly's designee to the Statewide Commission on Judicial Nomination, which committee recommends to the Governor a slate of candidates for the New York Court of Appeals.  He also serves on the Magistrate Selection Committee of the Southern District of New York.  In the past, he has been a member of numerous other governmental and professional committees, including those addressing representation of the indigent, sentencing guidelines and the attorney-client privilege.

Mr. Lefcourt served for several years as the Chair of the Criminal Advocacy Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and other committees.  He is past president of the National Association of Criminal Lawyers; a founder of the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers; and founder and past president of the New York Criminal Bar Association. He has been recognized in New York Magazine's survey of Outstanding Practitioners and in Who's Who in the Criminal Defense Bar.

Mr. Lefcourt has also been recognized by fellow practitioners as an outstanding lawyer, including by receipt of the Robert C. Heeney Memorial Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers; the Thurgood Marshall Lifetime Achievement Award from the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers; New York State Bar Association's Outstanding Practitioner Award; and New York University School of Law's Milton S. Gould Award for Outstanding Oral Advocacy.   He was recently the Guest of Honor at a dinner sponsored by the New York Criminal Bar Association in recognition of "the distinction and commitment [he has] brought as an advocate for the rights of criminal defendants."

Mr. Lefcourt has also been recognized by Super Lawyers in each of 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 as among New York City's Best Criminal Lawyers.

Mr. Lefcourt is a graduate of New York University (B.A. Political Science 1964); Brooklyn Law School (J.D. 1967); and New York University School of Law (L.L.M. Tax 1968). He is admitted to practice in New York, the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, and numerous Circuit Courts of Appeals.