Neal M. Eiseman
New York, NY
For more than three decades, commercial litigator Neal Eiseman has provided legal counsel to a wide variety of corporate clients in the construction and real estate industries. Representing real estate developers, lenders, owners, construction managers, contractors, sureties, manufacturers and design professionals, he advises clients in both the transactional and litigation aspects of commercial and real estate law.
Neal’s commitment to his practice extends beyond the courtroom. He represents clients in arbitration proceedings and also serves as a neutral on the Panel of Construction Arbitrators of the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”), including its Construction Arbitration Master Panel. He also serves on the Panel of Arbitrators for the International Centre for Dispute Resolution. He has served as an arbitrator for New York City’s Civil Court and founded the Bergen County Bar Association’s Construction Law Committee.
Neal represents clients in all types of commercial mediations. He is a member of both the AAA’s Construction Master Mediator Panel and the Panel of Mediators of the International Centre for Dispute Resolution. Twice last year and again this year, Neal will be teaching at an intensive five-day AAA mediator training program entitled “Essential Mediation Skills for the New Mediator.”
As an Adjunct Professor at New York University, he teaches masters courses in construction and real estate law and negotiation and dispute resolution. This past year, he received NYU’s School of Professional Studies “Award for Outstanding Service.” He is a regular guest speaker at events held by the American Bar Association (“ABA”), the AAA and various construction trade associations. In the recent past, Neal (i) appeared before more than 200 New York City School Construction Authority project managers and spoke about dispute resolution; (ii) spoke as part of a national AAA webinar on “The Overuse of Discovery in Arbitration Proceedings”; (iii) lectured about project delay and scheduling at the ABA’s New York Regional Program entitled “The Fundamentals of Construction Law”; and (iv) participated on a panel of experts on “New York’s Prompt Payment Act: An Underutilized Tool for Getting your Client Paid” at New York County Lawyer’s Association. Last spring, Neal spoke at the ABA’s Annual Litigation Conference in New Orleans about “Best Practices to Maximize the Benefits of Your Next Arbitration.” He also recorded a “Sound Advice” segment for the ABA’s national website.
Neal writes extensively about construction and commercial issues for various legal publications. In 2015, theHarvard Negotiation Law Review published his article, “Stiffing the Arbitrators: The Problem of Nonpayment in Commercial Arbitration.” In 2013, Neal co-authored an article entitled “A Tale of Two Lawyers: How Arbitrators and Advocates Can Avoid the Dangerous Convergence of Arbitration and Litigation” for Cardozo Law School’s Journal of Conflict Resolution. His opinion piece, titled “Who Will Step Up to Protect Policyholders?”, appeared in the April 19, 2012 edition of the New York Law Journal.
Neal recently obtained a $1 million-plus arbitration award, which included attorney’s fees, against the sponsor of a Manhattan condominium project on behalf of various unit owners who claimed the fair market value of their apartments had been reduced by virtue of the sponsor’s actions. Neal also obtained a unanimous reversal of an adverse decision of a New York federal trial court when the Second Circuit Court of Appeals held that a “Residential Exclusion” rider in a comprehensive general liability insurance policy does not permit a contractor’s insurance company to disclaim coverage because the project in question involves the construction of a residential condominium project.
A member of the American and New York and New Jersey state bar associations, the New York County Lawyers’ Association and ABA Sections in Construction and Litigation, Neal is currently Chair of the ABA’s Committee on Arbitration. He is also a member of the New York University Schack Institute of Real Estate/Construction Management Advisory Board, a Member of the AAA’s Arbitrator National Advisory Committee and a Fellow in the College of Commercial Arbitrators.
Neal’s expertise has been widely recognized by publications and fellow attorneys. He is a peer-selected “Best Lawyer in America®,” rated AV Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell; recognized as a “Super Lawyer®” in construction; and listed by “Who’s Who Legal” as “one of the world’s leading practitioners” in construction. Neal was also named one of Bergen County, New Jersey’s “Top Lawyers” in (201) Magazine. Chambers USA has referred to Neal as “very intelligent” and “a breath of fresh air,” praising him for his ability to “bring to the table a pragmatic approach.” This year, Chambers noted that Neal “is the consummate professional, understanding the details and getting to the bottom of things very quickly.”