Best Lawyers Near You in New York, New York for Leisure and Hospitality 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
- Strategic planning
- Development, acquisition, and disposition
- Branding and licensing
- Financing, refinancing, and restructuring
- Operating and development agreements
- Joint venture, partnership, and limited liability company agreements
- Corporate, multi-, and single-asset transactions
- Multi-state representations
- Product and program structuring
- Mergers and acquisitions
- Dispute resolution
Additionally, hospitality clients require experience across many areas, including:
- Corporate. Offering guidance on corporate governance and SEC requirements. Advising corporations, boards of directors, board committees, corporate officers, shareholders, limited liability companies, and others regarding best practices, composition, and procedures; oversight and self-evaluation systems; guidelines, and codes of conduct; fiduciary responsibilities; executive compensation and succession; financial reporting and internal investigations; and proxy statement preparation.
- Securities. Assisting with all aspects of public equity and debt offerings, as well as growth strategies such as an IPO. Assist with a variety of securities related matters, including SEC and stock exchange regulation compliance.
- Labor and employment. Providing training and tools for effective labor-management relations and helping develop policies for compliance with state and federal labor, discrimination, and wage and hour laws.
- Privacy. Advising on compliance with applicable global privacy laws and regulations as well as on internal and customer-facing policies, procedures, and practices. Providing counsel on information management, data security issues, and regulatory requirements.
- Consumer finance. Representing companies in matters such as state and federal consumer finance laws, money-laundering, and payment card laws relating to credit, debit, gift, and virtual cards.
- Intellectual property. Assisting with trademark protection and maintenance; infringement enforcement issues; compliance counseling on advertising, sales, marketing, pricing, promotions, and sweepstakes; co-branding and strategic partnerships; and advertising terms and conditions. Providing strategic counsel on information technology matters, including software, licensing, technology outsourcing agreements, leasing, and maintenance.
- Real estate. Representing developers and owners before local, regional, and state agencies on zoning, land use, impact fees; transportation; and infrastructure requirements, as well as financing and other development-related issues.
- Environmental. Providing counseling on litigation, transactional due diligence, consulting and compliance services, and the effects of current and pending legislation.
- Tax. Assisting with tax matters, from transaction planning, dispute resolution, and policy development, to real estate capital markets transactions, including the formation of real estate funds, real estate financings, joint ventures, recapitalizations, and dispositions.
- Litigation. Providing support for all matters, including litigation, alternative dispute resolution, civil lawsuits, and criminal or government investigations.
- ADA. Providing counseling on due diligence, compliance services, effects of pending legislation, transactional due diligence, and litigation.
- FCPA. Providing counseling on overseas business practices and risk management.
Corporate Law & Commercial Litigation Legal Guide 2024
View Legal Guide
Joseph A. Guay serves as the firm's Real Estate Section leader. His practice is focused in the areas of real estate, business and commercial lending with a strong emphasis in hotel and resort development and hospitality law including hotel acquisitions and dispositions, development and finance, mixed-use development projects, hotel management agreements, branded residential projects, restaurant agreements and general hotel operation matters throughout the U.S., Latin America and the Caribbean...
Andy Robins serves as the co-chair of Akerman’s Hospitality Sector Team, a multidisciplinary group providing an extensive range of legal counsel and services to lodging and lifestyle companies. In this capacity, he works on a broad variety of hotel and resort development, operations and regulatory matters, including the evaluation of litigation. Andy is recognized nationally by Chambers USA as a leading authority on the development and structuring of mixed-use real estate projects throu...
Robert A. Rossi represents all types of business entities and individuals, including financial institutions, real estate operators and developers, closely-held businesses and foreign individuals. Mr. Rossi's real estate practice focuses on the representation of financial institutions and real estate operators and developers in all aspects of real estate law with an emphasis on joint ventures. Mr. Rossi has represented both financial partners and sponsors in numerous joint venture transactions...
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.