Lecturer Bios
Ronald C. Minkoff, Esq.
Ronald C. Minkoff is a partner in the Litigation Group and Head of the Professional Responsibility Group. Mr. Minkoff is also one of New York State’s leading practitioners in the field of attorney ethics and professional responsibility, representing attorneys in a wide variety of matters including law firm partnership disputes, disciplinary cases, legal fee disputes and legal malpractice and professional liability cases on behalf of both plaintiffs and defendants. He also provides ethics opinions and advice to a wide variety of law firm clients.
Mr. Minkoff is a member of several Bar Ethics Committees, including the Committee on Standards of Attorney Conduct (COSAC) and the Committee on Professional Discipline of the New York State Bar Association. He is also the Chair of the Task Force on Professionalism of the New York County Lawyers Association, a former member of the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Professionalism, and a past President of the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers. He is a member of the Media Law Resource Center (MLRC) ethics committee and has written extensively for the New York Professional Responsibility Report, The Professional Lawyer, The New York Law Journal, and other publications. Mr. Minkoff is an Adjunct Professor of Professional Responsibility at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor at New York University School of Law, Fordham Law School, and Brooklyn Law School. He is a frequent lecturer on the law of lawyering.
In addition, Mr. Minkoff represents businesses and individual professionals and executives in a wide variety of commercial litigation, including business break-ups, securities lawsuits, and domestic and international trade disputes. He represents several law firm partners in partnership disputes. And he represents an internationally known petrochemist in an oil and gas venture dispute. Mr. Minkoff was recently appointed to the Advisory Committee of the Commercial Division of the Supreme Court, New York County and was a member of Chief Judge Lippman’s Task Force on Commercial Litigation in the 21st Century. He is also a member of the Council on Judicial Administration of the New York City Bar Association.
Mr. Minkoff is a graduate of Columbia Law School (JD, 1980). He was an attorney at the Nassau County Legal Aid Society (1980-83), and was associated with Obermaier Morvillo & Abramowitz, P.C. (1983-85) and Owen & Fennell (1985-87). Mr. Minkoff was a member of Fennell & Minkoff (1987-94) and Beldock Levine & Hoffman (1994-2001) before joining Frankfurt Kurnit.
Representative cases: Grynberg v. BP Explorations Operating Co. Ltd. 92 A.D.3d 547 938 N.Y.S.2d 439 (2012); Frauzblau v. Cassin and Cassin LLP Index: 105949/10 Supreme Court New York County (2010); Carl v. Cohen and Greenberg Traurig, LLP 23 Misc.3d 1110(A) 886 N.Y.S.2d 66 (2009); Conopco, Inc. v. Wein, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 46945 (S.D.N.Y. 2007); Trepel v. Dippold, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 78050 (S.D.N.Y. 2006); Goetz v. Volpe and R & L Leasing, LLC, 11 Misc.3d 632, 812 N.Y.S.2d 294 (2006).
Nicole I. Hyland, Esq.
Nicole Hyland is a partner in the Litigation Group and Professional Responsibility Group at Frankfurt Kurnit. Her practice focuses primarily on legal ethics, professional responsibility, and legal malpractice.
Ms. Hyland counsels attorneys and law firms on conflicts of interest, legal fee disputes, escrow issues, disqualification motions, multijurisdictional law practice, business transactions with clients, lateral transitions, law firm formation and break-ups, advertising and social media use, and other professional responsibility issues. Ms. Hyland also represents defendants and plaintiffs in legal malpractice and breach of fiduciary duty disputes.
In addition to her legal ethics and professional responsibility practice, Ms. Hyland has an active litigation practice, focusing on art, literature, and entertainment industry disputes. She handles copyright, trademark, right of publicity, and defamation claims, as well as disputes over financing, production, distribution, and talent agreements. She counsels art, literature, and entertainment industry clients on content issues, including copyright, trademark, right of publicity, television formatting rights, privacy, defamation, and fair use.
Ms. Hyland is Chair of the Committee on Professional Ethics of the New York City Bar Association (NYCBA). In that role, she oversees the City Bar’s ethics hotline, which provides ethical guidance to lawyers from all over New York State. She also oversees the drafting of informal and formal ethics opinions on a variety of topics, including: non-refundable flat fee arrangements, the use of Professional Employer Organizations by law firms, the ethics of using a virtual law office, ethical guidelines for accepting credit cards, and business arrangements between law firms and nonlegal organizations.
Ms. Hyland serves as Co-Chair for the Ethics Committees of the Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York (WBASNY) and the New York Women’s Bar Association (NYWBA) – WBASNY’s New York City chapter. For the past two years she has hosted the NYWBA annual meeting at Frankfurt Kurnit followed by an Ethics CLE program for NYWBA members and attendees.
Ms. Hyland serves on the Board of the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers (APRL) and is a member of the New York State Bar Association Committee for Standards on Attorney Conduct (COSAC). She is also a member of the American Bar Association’s Center for Professional Responsibility.
Ms. Hyland writes and lectures frequently on legal ethics and professional responsibility issues. She recently joined Professor Roy Simon as a co-author on his seminal treatise: Simon’s New York Rules of Professional Conduct Annotated (2015 ed.). She is on the editorial board of the New York Legal Ethics Reporter and contributes to the Legal Ethics Forum blog.
Follow Nicole on Twitter @NiHyland, connect with her on LinkedIn, “Like” her Facebook page, or view her documents on JD Supra.
Brian E. Maas, Esq.
Brian E. Maas is a partner of the firm focusing on litigation as well as on the counseling of businesses and individuals in complex commercial problems. In his wide ranging civil litigation and white collar criminal defense practice, Mr. Maas represents clients in all phases of the pre-litigation and litigation process in matters pending in state and federal court as well as in arbitrations. He has a diverse base of clients with business interests in various business areas including the securities and financial industries, the film and recording industries, the insurance industry, the corporate software development business, the art world, and the construction industry.
Mr. Maas started his career as an associate attorney at Barrett Smith Schapiro Simon & Armstrong. He then served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York, where he became Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division. He has practiced privately at Rosenblatt Maas Wirfel & Stolz and, most recently, at Beldock Levine & Hoffman LLP.
Mr. Maas is a member of the Eastern District of New York Civil Litigation Committee, and a former board member of the New York Council of Defense Lawyers where he also serves as Chairman of the Sentencing Guidelines Committee. He is a former Adjunct Professor at Fordham University School of Law. He is a graduate of Harvard College (AB, 1974) and Columbia University School of Law (JD, 1977) where he was a member of the Law Review. He was named a New York-area "Super Lawyer" for Business Litigation in 2008 and 2009 by Law and Politics magazine.
Tyler Maulsby, Esq.
Tyler Maulsby is an associate in the Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility and Litigation Groups of Frankfurt Kurnit.
His practice focuses on counseling and litigation matters in areas including: commercial disputes, legal malpractice, criminal defense, conflicts of interest, lateral transitions, disqualification motions, unauthorized practice of law, and professional discipline.
Mr. Maulsby currently serves as Secretary of the Committee on Professional Ethics of the New York City Bar Association and is a member of the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers. He is also a regular contributor to the New York Legal Ethics Reporter.
Prior to joining Frankfurt Kurnit, Mr. Maulsby was a criminal defense attorney at The Bronx Defenders, a holistic public defender office in the South Bronx. While at The Bronx Defenders, Mr. Maulsby acted as lead counsel in numerous hearings, jury and bench trials.
He is admitted to practice in New York state courts and federal courts in the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.
Viviane Scott, Esq.
Viviane K. Scott is an associate in the Litigation Group at Frankfurt Kurnit, focusing on employment, intellectual property, and commercial litigation.
Prior to joining Frankfurt Kurnit, Ms. Scott served as law clerk to the Honorable Theodore A. McKee of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Before her federal clerkship, she was an associate at Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP, where she focused on complex commercial litigation, representing large financial institutions, pharmaceutical corporations and small companies. In her employment law practice, Ms. Scott assisted with investigations and advised individuals, non-profits, and financial institutions.
From 2014 to 2015, she also served as law clerk to the Honorable Bridget M. McCormack of the Supreme Court of Michigan.
She is admitted to practice in New York.
Richard M. Maltz, Esq.
Richard M. Maltz is counsel to our Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility Group and he has more
than 23 years of experience in the professional responsibility field. He represents lawyers in disciplinary
matters and lawyers and law firms in partnership disputes. He also handles litigation involving
professional responsibility issues, fee disputes, law firm disputes, disqualification, sanctions, and
problems in the admission process for law graduates. He was recently recognized by Best Lawyers in
America as one of the top attorneys in his field.
Mr. Maltz served two years as First Deputy Chief Counsel (1998-2000) and nine years as Deputy Chief
Counsel (1989-1998) for the Departmental Disciplinary Committee for the Appellate Division, First
Judicial Department. Prior to joining the Committee, Mr. Maltz handled both criminal and civil litigation.
Currently, Mr. Maltz is a member of the New York State Bar Committee on Professional Discipline and
the New York City Bar Professional Responsibility Committee. He was creator and Chair of the New York
State Trial Lawyer’s Ethics Committee.
Mr. Maltz is a former Chair of the Professional Responsibility Committee of the New York City Bar
(2002-2005) and former Chair and then Co-Chair of the Ethics Committee of the Westchester County
Bar Association. He served as a member of the New York County Lawyers’ Ethics Institute and was
appointed to the New York State Bar Advertising Task Force. He was also former Chair of the Briarcliff
Manor Ethics Board, as well as a former Referee for the Judicial Conduct Commission.
Mr. Maltz has been certified to teach an ethics CLE course by the New York State Continuing Legal
Education Board and he lectures often on disciplinary and ethical issues for New York State, City, and
County Bar associations and for private law firms. He has taught professional responsibility at Benjamin
N. Cardozo School of Law, and has published articles in the New York Law Journal, New York State Bar
Journal, and Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics. He has also acted as an ethics expert.
John B. Harris, Esq.
John B. Harris is a partner in the Litigation Group with more than 25 years of experience representing clients in high stakes civil matters and white collar criminal cases. He is a recognized leader in the professional responsibility and white collar defense bars.
In his legal ethics and professional responsibility practice, Mr. Harris defends law firms, lawyers, and other professionals against claims of legal malpractice, breach of fiduciary duty and fraud. He frequently represents law firms in disputes with current and former partners.
A central part of Mr. Harris’ practice is the representation of individuals and entities who are the subjects of either criminal or regulatory investigations. He has represented public figures, corporate executives and securities industry professionals against allegations involving collateralized debt obligation and mortgage fraud; anti-money laundering investigations; insider trading; securities and accounting fraud; and mutual fund pricing violations. In addition, he has advised clients on research analyst independence issues, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act cases, and "spy shop" matters. Mr. Harris understands that his clients are best served when charges are not filed by prosecutors and regulators, and he has had substantial success for his clients in accomplishing this result.
Mr. Harris was the Chair of the Professional Responsibility Committee of the New York City Bar Association, and is a former member of the New York City Bar’s Committee on Professional and Judicial Ethics, Committee on Professional Discipline, Judiciary Committee, and Task Force on Multi-Disciplinary Practice. He has served as a delegate to the New York State Bar Association House of Delegates and currently serves as a member of the State Bar Professional Discipline Committee. He acts as a mediator for the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, and has served as an expert witness.
Mr. Harris is also a member of the American Bar Association; is a past Chair of the New York Regional Board and a member of the National Executive Committee of the Anti-Defamation League; is vice-chair of the New York University Law Alumni Association; and is a board member of Summer Search, New York. He has been recognized in Super Lawyers magazine as a New York-area Super Lawyer for eight consecutive years.
Mr. Harris has litigated matters in New York State and federal courts (Southern and Eastern Districts), and appeared in numerous SEC, FINRA and Departmental Disciplinary Committee proceedings. Before joining Frankfurt Kurnit, he was a partner at Stillman & Friedman, P.C. and Ballard Spahr LLP. Previously, Mr. Harris was a reporter for The Hartford Courant. Mr. Harris is admitted to practice in New York and Connecticut.
