Scott Stopnik is a chair of Wilson Elser’s Complex Tort & General Casualty Practice and serves as a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. As chair, Scott provides leadership, guidance and support to the numerous practice attorneys across the country.. His deep understanding of litigation and his strong collaboration and leadership skills enable Scott to leverage talent across the firm and create effective teams as the lead partner on numerous complex, high-risk engagements. He actively practices in New York state appellate and federal courts and provides national support on matters across the country, often overseeing local teams of attorneys throughout the firm’s network of offices.

Scott proactively counsels clients, providing early, targeted insights to best position them to assess and resolve matters on the best possible terms they have identified. He spares no effort to understand all facets of his clients’ businesses and employs a client-centric, pragmatic, goal-oriented approach to deliver strategic, sensible. and cost-effective advice that controls and minimizes risk exposure, while safeguarding long-term interests. Aggressive in his support of clients’ objectives for their businesses and their people, Scott represents a formidable presence and a value-added resource at the table and in the courtroom.

Areas of Focus

National Counsel & Lead Partner Role
Scott serves as national counsel for a number of Wilson Elser’s most prestigious clients and serves some of the country’s largest municipalities and businesses as lead partner on high-profile cases and matters. He represents Fortune 200 and Fortune 500 companies and works collaboratively with insurers across business lines, including all CGL risk, construction risk, premises liability, transportation risk, product liability, employment liability, and professional liability claims. Scott works closely with state and local government entities and authorities as they intersect with his full-service approach to client satisfaction.

Construction & Construction Defect
From site inspection through risk avoidance to completion, Scott maintains a steady focus on the ultimate success of each venture. Scott possesses significant experience in construction litigation, having represented a broad spectrum of industry participants, including owners, developers, general contractors, construction managers, and subcontractors. He is regularly retained as designated lead counsel in connection with long-term and large-scale construction, multi-investment, multibillion-dollar projects, where he provides strategic guidance on risk management and dispute resolution, including but not limited to airport terminals, correctional facilities, and other municipal projects. Currently, Scott is engaged as counsel for the $9.5 billion Terminal One at JFK International Airport. When completed in 2030, it will be the largest terminal at JFK, with 23 gates and more than 300,000 square feet of retail, dining, and lounge space over a total footprint of 2.6 million square feet.

Scott is actively engaged with a multitude of eminent national and local contractors in connection with significant bodily injury, construction defect, and property damage claims. In addition, he regularly oversees OCIP and CCIP wrap-up insurance claims and risk management programs. He strategizes and coordinates the investigation and defense of a claim with a view toward a favorable outcome from the inception of a matter though its resolution, be it via motion practice, mediation and negotiations, or trial. Working with all the key players, including investigators and experts, Scott ensures that claims and actions are appropriately addressed during every stage of their lifecycle.

National Multidisciplinary Programs
Scott assembles and manages national multidisciplinary teams to address the needs of clients holistically. His approach transcends the principles of good lawyering through his unique ability to apply “big picture” perspectives, making his early involvement essential to clients and colleagues alike. Serving as a sounding board on behalf of clients to provide guidance regarding prominent, high-exposure litigation and claims on national and local fronts, Scott’s ability to consistently provide results-oriented short- and long-term strategies that exceed client expectations has become a hallmark of his litigation and claims management practice. There is a strong consensus among his clients that Scott’s disciplined, strategic, and level-headed approach to defending, litigating, and resolving matters enables them to effectively handle and manage their claims with powerful risk management support.

Transportation
Throughout his career, Scott has defended national transportation companies with the largest fleets in the nation – including communications and media companies, national long-haul and local trucking companies, and taxi and livery fleets – in catastrophic personal injury, uninsured motorist, no-fault, and PIP subrogation cases. He often spearheads emergency response teams that take a proactive, hands-on approach in investigations and he develops tactical strategies for these matters, often long before a formal claim or suit is asserted. Scott’s knowledge of the business underscores his understanding of the unique issues facing the industry, including first- and third-party liability and subrogation issues presented by these claims.

Premises Liability
Scott defends an array of property owners, retailer and wholesaler storefronts, and bars and restaurants in a multitude of premises liability matters, including but not limited to premises security, Dram Shop, catastrophic fire events, intentional tort litigation, and trip / slip and falls. Scott is highly regarded for the pinpoint accuracy of his early case evaluations and is regularly involved in the first stages of evidence gathering and “triage.” He spearheads the investigation, helping to arrive at a clear and informed strategy and the ultimate successful defense and resolution of a claim.

Product Liability
Product liability matters frequently extend beyond legal defense to the business effects on risk management, insurance coverage, recalls, brand image, financing, financial reporting, corporate governance, future corporate transactions and communications to shareholders. Scott handles high-profile matters, often encompassing national, local, and international implications. He has defended various manufacturers and distributors of products including but not limited to home appliances, construction-related equipment, and child and baby safety gates.

    Education

    • New York Law School (J.D., 1995)
    • University of Miami (B.B.A., 1992)

    Bar Admissions

    • New York

    Professional Affiliations

    • New York City Bar Association, Construction Law Committee
    • UJA-Federation of New York, Insurance Committee
    • Town of North Castle, NY, Public Library, Board of Trustees, President, 2020-Present
    • Town of North Castle, NY Public Library, Board of Trustees, Treasurer/Chairman of Finance Committee, 2014-2019
    • Town of North Castle, NY Zoning Board of Appeals, Board Member

    Awards & Honors

    • Selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America®, 2026
    • AV® Preeminent™ Rated by Martindale-Hubbell
    • Rated by Martindale-Hubbell® as a Top Rated Lawyer in Construction in New York, 2014-Present

Scott H. Stopnik

Scott Stopnik is a chair of Wilson Elser’s Complex Tort & General Casualty Practice and serves as a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. As chair, Scott provides leadership, guidance and support to the numerous practice attorneys across the country.. His deep understanding of litigation and his strong collaboration and leadership skills enable Scott to leverage talent across the firm and create effective teams as the lead partner on numerous complex, high-risk engagements. He actively practices in New York state appellate and federal courts and provides national support on matters across the country, often overseeing local teams of attorneys throughout the firm’s network of offices.

Scott proactively counsels clients, providing early, targeted insights to best position them to assess and resolve matters on the best possible terms they have identified. He spares no effort to understand all facets of his clients’ businesses and employs a client-centric, pragmatic, goal-oriented approach to deliver strategic, sensible. and cost-effective advice that controls and minimizes risk exposure, while safeguarding long-term interests. Aggressive in his support of clients’ objectives for their businesses and their people, Scott represents a formidable presence and a value-added resource at the table and in the courtroom.

Events

Scott Stopnik is a chair of Wilson Elser’s Complex Tort & General Casualty Practice and serves as a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. As chair, Scott provides leadership, guidance and support to the numerous practice attorneys across the country.. His deep understanding of litigation and his strong collaboration and leadership skills enable Scott to leverage talent across the firm and create effective teams as the lead partner on numerous complex, high-risk engagements. He actively practices in New York state appellate and federal courts and provides national support on matters across the country, often overseeing local teams of attorneys throughout the firm’s network of offices.

Scott proactively counsels clients, providing early, targeted insights to best position them to assess and resolve matters on the best possible terms they have identified. He spares no effort to understand all facets of his clients’ businesses and employs a client-centric, pragmatic, goal-oriented approach to deliver strategic, sensible. and cost-effective advice that controls and minimizes risk exposure, while safeguarding long-term interests. Aggressive in his support of clients’ objectives for their businesses and their people, Scott represents a formidable presence and a value-added resource at the table and in the courtroom.

Scott H. Stopnik

Margolis, O’Connor, and Stopnik Secure Discontinuance in Complex Declaratory Judgment Action Through Strategic Motion Practice

​Bernice E. Margolis (Partner-White Plains), Thomas O’Connor (Associate-White Plains), and Scott Stopnik (Partner-White Plains) successfully represented an insurance and bonding company – securing a discontinuance and the court’s endorsement of their position – after being substituted in as counsel in a seven-year running declaratory judgment action pending in the New York Supreme Court, New York County.  After reviewing years of inherited filings, Bernice, Tom, and Scott identified a critical procedural defect that had gone unnoticed for years: the plaintiffs were pursuing identical breach of contract claims in both the declaratory judgment action and the underlying liability action. They moved to dismiss under CPLR § 3211(a)(4), demonstrating that the actions involved the same parties, claims, and relief, and that the underlying action had already reached the summary judgment stage, and that the plaintiffs’ claims against our client were fully addressed in that action.

Opposing counsel later conceded they had no basis to resist dismissal and had included the client in the declaratory judgment action merely to obtain additional discovery. The White Plains team declined to delay the matter and instead proposed that the plaintiffs execute a Stipulation of Discontinuance as to the client in exchange for the withdrawal of the motion. At the subsequent appearance, the judge adopted this approach.

Through focused review and strategic motion practice, Wilson Elser extricated the client from a protracted action without further discovery, deposition activity, or costly litigation, eliminating duplicate exposure and streamlining related proceedings.

Bernice E. Margolis, Thomas C. O'Connor and Scott H. Stopnik

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