Attorney Profiles

Respected New York Lawyers

Gaines, Gruner, Ponzini & Novick, LLP is a multi-faceted law firm with offices in White Plains, New York, and a highly respected presence throughout the New York metropolitan region. We invite you to review the following biographies of our lawyers amply demonstrating the firm’s diversity and experience which allows the firm the opportunity to provide a wide range of quality legal services for our clients.

Steven H. Gaines has been practicing law in Westchester County and New York City for over 35 years. He commenced his career as an Assistant District Attorney in Westchester County where he served for five years and rose to the level of senior trial attorney in the major offense bureau. He is an accomplished negotiator and litigator specializing in toxic torts, personal injury law, estate and commercial matters. Mr Gaines also has significant experience in handling high net worth divorce cases. He has successfully tried to verdict over one hundred trials (both jury and non-jury). A number of these trials have resulted in substantial recoveries in millions of dollars, for clients who suffered property, business or personal damages. Mr. Gaines is a founding member of the firm.

Joseph H. Gruner has been practicing law in New York for 35 years. His entire career has been spent in the private sector. Mr. Gruner devotes the majority of his time and attention to the needs of his clients in the areas of estate planning, wealth preservation, estate administration, and elder law (guardianship proceedings, Medicaid eligibility, long term care insurance, nursing home admittance, advance directives and trusts). Mr. Gruner also represents clients in various real estate, corporate and commercial transactions. He is a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, the Trusts and Estates Section and the Elder Law Section of the New York State Bar, the Westchester Bar Association, and New York County Lawyers Association. Mr. Gruner joined the firm in February of 2004.

Robert Ponzini has developed a practice with a concentration in all areas of municipal law, serving at various times as Village Attorney, Village Prosecutor, Town Attorney, Town Prosecutor, Special Counsel and Hearing Officer for various municipalities in Westchester and Putnam Counties. Listed among his clients, both past and present, are the Villages of Ardsley, Hastings-on-Hudson, Elmsford, Rye Brook, Tarrytown, and Sleepy Hollow as Village Attorney, the Town of Somers as Town Attorney, and the Town of Eastchester, and the Village of Tuckahoe, and the Archville Fire Department as Special Counsel. Additionally, he has served as special counsel for the County of Westchester, Hearing Officer for the County of Westchester and the City of White Plains, and Hearing Officer in the town of Kent. Mr. Ponzini joined the firm in January of 2003.

Ted A. Novick's practice concentrates on medical malpractice and personal injury cases such as wrongful death, car accidents, construction site accidents, scaffold accidents, police brutality and premises liability. Mr. Novick works closely with a medical doctor on almost all lawsuits so that he can fully understand "the medicine" to maximize a client's recovery. As a background, Mr. Novick graduated law school in 1989 and initially was a law clerk for the Honorable Michael Hartmere of the Connecticut Superior Court. In 1990, Mr. Novick joined the Office of the Westchester County Attorney where he prosecuted over one hundred child abuse and child neglect cases. In 1992, Mr. Novick was promoted to the civil litigation bureau where he spent four years and successfully tried to verdict personal injury trials on behalf of the County. After he left the County Attorney's office in 1996, Mr. Novick worked for two Park Avenue litigation law firms gaining significant experience and recognition as an attorney handling various litigation matters. Currently, Mr. Novick handles and supervises all of the firms numerous personal injury and medical malpractice cases that are in litigation and heads the firm's personal injury/medical malpractice department. Mr. Novick has handled cases and achieved results of over a million dollars on behalf of clients. Mr. Novick is licensed to practice in New York and Connecticut. Mr. Novick is an equity partner and a founding member of the firm.

Denise M. Cossu has been a practicing attorney in New York State for 28 years. During that period of time, she served as associate counsel for major firms in New York City Orenstein & Brown, Jackson & Nash and Kassner & Haigney. Her practice is concentrated in the trial and appellate courts, both state and federal, primarily in the area of commercial litigation, legal research and motion and appellate practice. She has extensive experience in personal injury, professional malpractice, and municipal and criminal law. A graduate of Hofstra University Law School, she served as an editor of the International Property Investment Journal and interned with the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. Ms. Cossu joined the firm in April of 2006.

David E. Venditti is Senior Counsel to the Firm and has over 26 years of broad-based commercial and civil litigation, real estate land use, development and transactional practice experience in Westchester County and New York City. Mr. Venditti began his practice in New York City with a firm engaged solely in Personal Injury and Medical Malpractice litigation before beginning his own private practice in Westchester County. After private practice in Westchester for over 20 years, Mr. Venditti joined the Corporate Litigation Department of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, LLP, in New York City, as a Staff Attorney involved in complex civil litigation and high profile financial regulatory investigations. He has extensive negligence and commercial litigation experience, for both plaintiffs and defendants, and has advised clients on complex liability, contractual, and financial matters. His clients have included some of the largest real estate development and management companies in the metropolitan area, and he has lectured on Land Use and Zoning Regulations. Mr. Venditti has been an elected municipal official for the past eight years and was former President of the Greater Ossining Bar Association. He became Senior Counsel at the Firm in October of 2009.

Eric Press has been practicing law in New York for 25 years. He served as sole law clerk to the Hon. Joel Tyler of the Federal District Court of New York, handling cases on myriad of federal subjects including Section 1983 prisoners' rights actions and federal habeas corpus proceedings. He then served as a trial attorney for the Legal Aid Society of New York City Criminal Division before joining the Legal Aid Society of Westchester County, where he tried numerous felony cases to verdict. He possesses extensive experience in the field of criminal law. He recently retired as senior associate counsel for the Legal Aid Society and joined the firm in January of 2004.

Kimberlea Shaw Rea is a former Trial Attorney for the United States Department of Justice, in the Division of Environment and Natural Resources, in Washington, D.C. She represents industrial, commercial and municipal clients in complex federal multi-party environmental cases. She also handles complex commercial litigation and Section 1983 Civil Rights Act cases. In her advisory practice, she has negotiated and supervised cleanups of municipal landfills, chemical dumps, manufacturing plant closures, chemical and oil spills, closure for underground storage tanks, asbestos abatement projects, and permitting for solid waste management facilities, as well as provided clients with due diligence and compliance counseling. She has extensive experience in coordinating SEQRA reviews, and in obtaining both state and federal Brownfields funding for municipal clients. Ms. Rea has 23 years experience and is licensed to practice in New York, Virginia and Texas. Ms. Rea joined the firm in March of 2004.

Joseph M. Buderwitz has been in private practice in New York for 28 years. Mr. Buderwitz was a partner with Stephens, Buderwitz and Baroni until 1993 and he also worked with Anthony J. Caputo, Esq. on personal injury cases, including plaintiffs' personal injury and insurance defense work. Mr. Buderwitz has developed a concentration in Health and Hospital Law. He is currently special counsel for The Mount Vernon Hospital and was formerly General Counsel for Lawrence Hospital. As such, Mr. Buderwitz handled matters pertaining to corporate governance, credentialing of physicians, development of risk management policies, development of corporate and physicians' by-laws and has interacted with other hospitals and their attorneys regarding hospital networks. Mr. Buderwitz has also served as special zoning counsel for the Town of North Salem and the town of North Castle, Westchester County, New York, in addition to handling complex litigation in the areas of contracts and real estate, he has extensive experience in prosecution and defense of mechanics and contractors liens and all areas of municipal law. Mr. Buderwitz joined the firm in July of 2005.

John M. Murtagh, a graduate of Fordham College (BA '82) and Fordham Law School (JD '86) has nearly twenty-five years of experience advising clients in a variety of legal matters. John has significant trial experience in both New York State and Federal courts. John began his career representing off-shore and overseas insurers at a large Manhattan and London based law firm. For the last seventeen years, John has maintained his own practice in Westchester County specializing in litigation on behalf of businesses, municipalities and individuals and general business and transactional representation.

Caitlin G. Scheir graduated from Pace Law School, cum laude, in 2007 and is licensed to practice law in New York and Connecticut. She began her career as an associate in a White Plains law firm concentrating in estate litigation, trusts and estates, estate planning and administration, guardianships, guardianship litigation and real estate. In 2009 she co-found a law practice with an emphasis on wills, trusts and estates. Her current practice is concentrated in the areas of estate planning, estate administration, elder law and real estate transactions. She is a member of the New York State Bar Association, the Westchester County Bar Association, and the Westchester County Women's Bar Association. Ms. Scheir joined the firm in April 2011.

Richard A. Portale is a Senior Criminal Trial Counsel with Gaines, Gruner, Ponzini & Novick, LLP. He received a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Buffalo and his Juris Doctorate from John Marshall Law School.

Contact Our Attorneys

Please contact the litigation and transactional attorneys Gaines, Gruner, Ponzini & Novick, LLP regarding any personal injury, legal malpractice, elder law, real estate, criminal, commercial, or municipal law matter. Our attorneys can be reached by phone or by e-mail, or by filling out the in-take form on our Contact page.