Best Lawyers in New York, United States for Closely Held Companies and Family Businesses Law
New York City is one of the most active and complex legal markets in the world. With a dense network of courts, regulations and high-stakes legal matters across every industry, navigating the legal system here requires more than just any attorney—it requires the right one.
Whether you're dealing with a corporate dispute, a criminal charge, or a personal legal issue, experience matters. So does reputation. That’s why this directory exists.
The Best Lawyers New York directory offers a streamlined, trustworthy way to start your search. Every attorney in New York listed has been recognized by their peers for professional excellence and the platform is designed to help you filter by legal need, review credentials and take the next step with confidence.
How the Directory Works
This page serves as a targeted directory for users looking to find a lawyer in New York. Each attorney listed has been recognized in the most recent edition of Best Lawyers—a distinction based entirely on peer nominations and evaluations.
You won’t find ads or sponsored listings here. Instead, you can search by:
- Practice area: filter by the type of legal help you need
- Location: narrow results to your borough or region
- Attorney name: if you’re looking to verify someone you’ve already heard of
Each attorney profile includes a clear summary of their experience, focus areas and credentials—giving you the information you need to make a confident decision.
Legal Help by Practice Area
New York City residents’ and visitors’ legal needs are wide-ranging and so are the attorneys listed in this directory. You can quickly narrow your search by legal focus. This directory includes attorneys who concentrate on some of the most in-demand areas of law in New York, such as:
- Business and commercial law
- Criminal defense and investigations
- Employment and labor disputes
- Real estate and construction law
- Divorce, custody and family matters
- Immigration issues
- Personal injury and malpractice
- Estate planning and probate
Why These Attorneys Are Listed
Every attorney on this page has earned a place through Best Lawyers’ rigorous annual peer-review process—one of the most trusted selection methods in the legal profession.
It’s recognition by fellow attorneys who know the work and understand what excellence looks like. Attorneys are nominated by peers and then evaluated on legal skill, professional conduct and client outcomes. Thousands of lawyers participate each year, providing confidential assessments within their specific practice areas.
To be listed, an attorney must:
- Be nominated by another legal professional
- Receive consistently high marks from peers in their practice area
- Maintain a strong track record of ethical behavior and client success
Only those who stand out among their peers are selected. And only those chosen in the most recent edition of the Best Lawyers awards appear in this directory, ensuring that every listing reflects current, active recognition.
Attorneys also manage their own profiles, so the information you’re reviewing is not only credible, but current. You’ll find clear details about each attorney’s practice focus, background and achievements—everything you need to make an informed decision.
This page is built to support your search—not get in the way of it. Whether you're starting from scratch or narrowing down a list of top attorneys in New York, this directory is a practical, no-frills tool to help you move forward.
Start Your Search
If you're trying to find a lawyer in New York, this directory offers a trusted, peer-reviewed way to start. Whether you're hiring for the first time or looking to verify someone's standing, the attorneys listed here have been selected for a reason.
Begin your search by selecting your legal focus. Then explore profiles, compare qualifications and connect with an attorney in New York who’s already earned the trust of the legal community.
Practice Area Overview
Depending on the jurisdiction, closely held company law may differ significantly from the law of the same jurisdiction that is applicable to corporations and other enterprises that are publicly held. For example, in many jurisdictions owners in closely held companies are subject to heightened fiduciary duties to one another, which may preclude structural actions or transactions that would be permissible in the public company sphere. On the other hand, closely held companies are free from many of the disclosure and other regulations that constrain publicly held enterprises in their activities. This is true even when the closely held company is of equal size as a publicly held participant in the same industry. Practitioners in this area must be experts in recognizing these legal and regulatory differences and also be aware of the alternative governance frameworks available in other jurisdictions.
The key challenge in family business law is to structure an environment in which familial goals and interests and enterprise goals are mutually reinforcing. This requires empathy and creativity on the part of the practitioner, particularly the ability to translate essentially non-legal concepts such as stewardship into legal script, all in a tax-efficient manner.
Corporate Law & Commercial Litigation Legal Guide 2024
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Michael Schiavone has provided legal guidance to businesses for 30 years. He concentrates his practice in the areas of business law, commercial real estate, and estate planning. Mr. Schiavone is experienced in regularly counseling clients in a wide array of legal matters, including: Commercial lending and financial transactions Mergers and acquisitions Corporate, partnership, and limited liability matters Business formation Business succession planning Contract negotiation and dispute resolut...
Alicia is an experienced litigator who represents clients in all areas of commercial and civil litigation, including complex contract disputes , corporate dissolution proceedings and business divorces , shareholder derivative actions, employment disputes, premises liability, insurance coverage matters , and others. Alicia also defends small and mid-sized businesses in lawsuits filed under the Americans with Disabilities Act. In her more than a decade of private practice, Alicia has been a pro...
Craig Welch is the Chair of Lacy Katzen LLP's Corporate, Business and Banking Law Practice Group. He has been practicing law for more than 34 years, and represents clients who have diverse legal needs that typically involve issues from a variety of practice areas. In representing his clients, Craig is able to provide his business and individual clients with a high level of counseling due to his extensive experience in so many areas of the law. He is also the resident attorney at our Canandaig...
Our Methodology
Recognition by Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer review. Our methodology is designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area.
The Process
Best Lawyers employs a sophisticated, conscientious, rational, and transparent survey process designed to elicit meaningful and substantive evaluations of the quality of legal services. Our belief has always been that the quality of a peer review survey is directly related to the quality of the voters.