Leslie R. Bennett
Special Professor of Law
B.A., New York University
J.D., New York University
E-mail: Leslie.R.Bennett@hofstra.edu
Biography
Professor Bennett is a seasoned litigator with more than three decades of experience in the private and public sectors. He began his legal career as a law clerk to the Honorable Harry E. Kalodner of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Thereafter, he entered the private sector as an associate with Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett, where he worked principally on a significant antitrust litigation and products liability cases for a major automaker. Professor Bennett returned to the public sector, serving as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, where he prosecuted and defended claims on behalf of the United States and its agencies. Upon moving from the city to Long Island, he joined Rivkin, Radler, Dunne & Bayh and became the Partner in Charge of the Environmental, Health & Regulatory Practice Group. Subsequently, he was a co-founder of McMillan, Rather, Bennett & Rigano, P.C., where he was the Partner in Charge of Litigation. Commencing in January 2011, he founded his own firm, Leslie R. Bennett LLC, and concentrates his practice on environmental, employment and commercial matters, and appellate advocacy.
His work in the private sector has included: principal responsibility on a wide range of matters in defense of a major chemical company in the Agent Orange litigation; nationwide coordination of programs for the management of asbestos-containing materials; drafting and revising laws on infectious waste and underground storage tanks; implementing a program for the treatment and disposal of medical waste for the not-for-profit hospitals on Long Island; and defending well-known, publicly traded corporations and closely held entities against claims of discrimination, sexual harassment, environmental violations, and corporate waste and mismanagement. He has also worked on many other types of matters and issues for private- and public-sector clients, including Article 78, civil rights, computer, constitutional, intellectual property, land use, OSHA, premises liability, product liability, qui tam, real estate and SEQRA.
Professor Bennett is a graduate of the New York University School of Law, where he was an Articles & Book Review Editor for the Law Review. He has authored numerous articles and lectured extensively on environmental, employment and litigation issues.