George B. Yankwitt has experience in all aspects of commercial litigation and has tried cases in federal and state courts in New York and elsewhere, as well as in bankruptcy court, arbitrations and before administrative tribunals.

George has represented numerous public and private companies as well as individuals in a broad range of cases involving corporate law, securities, real estate, intellectual property, professional responsibility, insurance, unfair competition and noncompetition covenants.

He has represented real estate owners in litigated disputes for more than 35 years and for more than 20 years has served as outside counsel for litigation for a national real estate firm based in San Francisco that owns first-class commercial buildings throughout the United States. George has handled a variety of intellectual property matters including the defense of claims of patent infringement, unfair competition and claims under the Lanham Act, as well as state laws, counterfeiting claims, restrictive covenants and contractual matters. He has represented a variety of professionals including accountants and lawyers in connection with claims involving professional responsibility. His insurance litigation experience includes representing insureds in a wide variety of claims contesting insurance coverage.

George has arbitrated, mediated and engaged in other forms of alternate dispute resolution including international arbitrations, the arbitration of real estate disputes, claims of breach of contract, breach of warranty, construction matters, securities cases, and labor and management matters.

George appears in The Best Lawyers in America. He is a former president of the Federal Bar Council, a bar association that consists primarily of trial lawyers. For many years he held various leadership positions at Legal Aid Society including vice president and chair of its Labor Committee and Community Law Office Council. He has served on the Board of Directors of the National Center for Law and Economic Justice and the Children’s Law Center and as an adjunct professor of law in the area of professional responsibility, and has lectured on a wide variety of subjects including internal investigations, discovery issues, securities litigation, appellate practice and accountant liability.

Representative Experience

• Representing successfully an entity in the Middle East that claimed ownership of The Jerusalem Post in an international arbitration.
• Representing a publicly held corporation in defense of claims of patent infringement.
• Representing a national retail chain in connection with charges of selling counterfeit goods.
• Representing successfully a manufacturer and seller of goods in a federal court trial defending claims under the Lanham Act.
• Representing a publicly held corporation in connection with an action arising from claims of accounting fraud.
• Representing successfully an accounting firm in a securities fraud class action.
• Representing a publicly held corporation in a trial successfully enforcing payment of a breakup fee arising from the termination of a merger agreement.
• Successfully defending a broker/dealer against claims of securities fraud and lack of suitability arising from an interest rate arbitrage investment program.
• Representing a leading New York-based medical institution.
• Representing an international investment banking firm in a variety of litigated matters.
• Representing a developer of a luxury apartment building charged with race discrimination under the Fair Housing Act in a federal court jury trial.
• Representing developers of first-class commercial buildings in breach of contract, breach of fiduciary obligations and tort matters in numerous federal and state court matters.
• Representing clients in a variety of bankruptcy proceedings.
• Representing owners of first-class commercial buildings in a California arbitration regarding claims that fire sprinklers were not suitable for their intended purpose.
• Arbitrating successfully a claim by a commercial condo unit owner regarding the right to allocate parking in a garage owned by other condo owners, significantly affecting asset value.
• Representing the institutional sellers of a first-class commercial building in an action for specific performance of a buyer’s breach of the contract of sale.