Vivien B. Shelanski, Esq.

T: 212-751-2700
F:212-751-4099

Locations

Available to hear cases nationwide.
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Vivien B. Shelanski, Esq. is a skilled mediator and arbitrator who has resolved hundreds of complex business/commercial, employment, construction, healthcare, entertainment, franchise, intellectual property, securities, real property, trusts and estates, technology, and telecommunications cases. 

ADR Experience and Qualifications

  • Business/Commercial: Contract and other business disputes involving public and closely-held companies in industries including financial services, entertainment, manufacturing, software, and telecommunications
  • Construction: Multi-party claims involving various types of structures and issues, including claims of delay, design and work defects, cost overruns, breach of contract, and professional liability
  • Employment: Individual and multi-party claims of discrimination (gender, age, race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, and disability), retaliation, and harassment; ADA, FMLA, FSLA/wage-hour and ERISA claims; contract claims involving executive compensation, severance benefits, non-compete and non-solicitation agreements
  • Franchise: Disputes among manufacturers and dealers or distributors regarding warranties, supplies, pricing, and services
  • Healthcare: Malpractice claims against physicians and hospitals; dissolutions of medical practices; wrongful discharge claims by senior executives, physicians, and hospital employees
  • Intellectual Property: Copyright, patent, trademark and trade secret disputes in industries including financial services, entertainment, publishing, advertising, software, and design-related businesses including textiles, apparel, jewelry, and hardware
  • Real Property: Mortgage fraud claims against private lenders, government entities, and title companies; contract claims involving financing agreements for commercial and residential properties; commercial leasing disputes
  • Securities: Fraud claims alleging misrepresentations in offering documents; investor claims against broker-dealers alleging churning, unauthorized trading, lack of suitability, and failure to supervise
  • Technology: Disputes between software, hardware, and website specialists and the companies retaining their services
  • Trusts and Estates: Disputes between trust beneficiaries, including family members and foreign institutions; disputes among family members about the operation and/or dissolution of family-owned businesses

Representative Matters

  • Securities claims by pension-fund investors alleging misrepresentations and omissions in prospectus for initial public offering
  • Construction dispute involving renovation of historic building facade with claims including defective design and construction, cost overruns, delay, and malpractice by architect and structural engineer
  • Copyright dispute between designer of decorative hardware and manufacturers and distributors of allegedly infringing products
  • Post-acquisition dispute between buyer and seller of educational services business alleging contract breaches pertaining to balance sheets, valuations, and representations and warranties
  • Real estate dispute between healthcare clinic and owner of building being converted to a condominium, with respect to alleged breach of warranty of habitability
  • Discrimination claim by television personality on daytime show alleging that termination was based on race and age

Honors, Memberships, and Professional Activities

  • Fellow, College of Commercial Arbitrators; Panel of Arbitrators and Panel of Mediators of the NASD and New York Stock Exchange; Panel of Mediators, United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York
  • Lecturer at New York University School of Law
  • Publications on legal issues and science policy, including a book, Accident at Three Mile Island

Background and Education

  • Assistant Circuit Executive for Legal Affairs, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, 1995-1998
  • Acting Assistant Professor, New York University School of Law, Spring 1995
  • Assistant Attorney General, New York State Department of Law, Real Estate Financing Bureau, 1992-1995
  • Litigation Attorney, Cahill Gordon & Reindel, and Howard Darby & Levin, 1985-1992
  • Law Clerk, Hon. Milton Pollack, United States District Judge, Southern District of New York, 1984-1985
  • J.D., with honors, New York University School of Law, 1984
  • Ph.D., Philosophy of Science, University of Chicago, 1970
  • A.B., with honors, Bryn Mawr College, 1964