William A. Ruskin has joined Gordon & Rees as a partner in the Environmental/Toxic Tort and Agricultural Chemicals & Pesticides Practice Groups. He is affiliated with the firm's New York office.
Ruskin brings more than 35 years of experience defending major industrial companies and manufacturers nationally in toxic tort, environmental, products liability, and drug and medical device actions. Over the course of his career, he has litigated major CERCLA cost-recovery cases across the United States. In the toxic tort arena, Ruskin has spearheaded the implementation of creative solutions to address mass tort diminution-of-property-value claims arising from environmental events.
He is a frequent speaker on products liability, toxic tort, and litigation management issues, and he has been a guest lecturer on environmental issues at Syracuse Law School, New York Law School, Columbia University, and Cornell University. Ruskin also is an editor for Gordon & Rees’s Environmental & Toxic Tort Defense Insight blog.
Ruskin’s accomplishments have led to a Martindale-Hubbell peer review rating of AV Preeminent and the honor of inclusion on The American Lawyer and Martindale-Hubbell's 2013 Top Rated Lawyers list for Energy, Environmental & Natural Resources Law. In 2010 and 2011, Avenue magazine and Martindale-Hubbell included Ruskin on their "Legal Elite" list of top New York City litigators.
He is a member of the Defense Research Institute and the International Association of Defense Counsel. Ruskin serves on the boards of the New York League of Conservation Voters Education Fund and the Connecticut League of Conservation Voters Education Fund. He also is a certified mediator for the Southern District of New York, having mediated disputes in that court on a pro bono basis for 20 years. Ruskin is admitted to practice in New York, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C.