Scott M. Karson

Scott graduated from SUNY at Stony Brook and Syracuse University College of Law (cum laude), where he was the Senior Survey Editor of the Syracuse Law Review. He served as an Assistant District Attorney of Suffolk County and, thereafter, as principal law clerk to the late Associate Justice Lawrence J. Bracken of the Appellate Division, Second Department. He concentrates his practice on appellate matters, and has argued more than 100 appeals in state and federal appellate courts. He also handles municipal, civil rights, commercial, personal injury defense, land use and real property title litigation. He is the Chair of the Firm’s Professional Ethics Committee and Litigation Committee.

On June 1, 2020, Scott became the 123rd President of the 70,000 member New York State Bar Association, the largest voluntary state bar association in the nation.  After serving his one-year term a President of the NYSBA, Scott became the Immediate Past President on June 1, 2021.  He is also a sustaining member of NYSBA, and his prior service to NYSBA includes a one-year term as President Elect, three one-year terms as Treasurer, and one three-year term as Vice President for the Tenth Judicial District. He is a former Chair of the NYSBA Executive Committee and former Chair of the NYSBA House of Delegates. He is former Chair of the NYSBA Audit Committee, a member and former Chair of the NYSBA Committee on Courts of Appellate Jurisdiction, former Co-Chair of the NYSBA President’s Committee on Access to Justice, Co-Chair of the NYSBA Task Force on Incarceration Release Planning and Programs, a member of the NYSBA Finance Committee and the NYSBA Committee to Review Judicial Nominations. He was a member-at-large of the Executive Council of the former New York Conference of Bar Leaders.  Scott currently serves as Chair of the NYSBA Nominating Committee and as a member of the Executive Committee of the NYSBA International Section.

Scott is also a sustaining member of the Suffolk County Bar Association.  In addition to being a former SCBA President (2004-2005), he served as Chair of the SCBA’s Appellate Practice, Judicial Screening, Bylaws Revision, Nominating and Legislative Review Committees. Scott is the recipient of the SCBA’s Lifetime Achievement Award, President’s and Directors’ Awards and numerous SCBA Awards of Recognition. He served as Managing Director of the Suffolk County Bar Pro Bono Foundation and is the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of Nassau Suffolk Law Services Committee, Inc. He is the former Vice President of the Suffolk Academy of Law and has frequently lectured for the Academy, as well as NYSBA, on appellate practice.

Scott is a Life Fellow of the New York Bar Foundation, a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, and a member of the American Bar Association House of Delegates. He is also a member of the ABA Judicial Division Appellate Judges Conference Council of Appellate Lawyers.

Scott has consistently earned an AV Preeminent Rating from Martindale-Hubbell and was selected to appear in the New York Super Lawyers® Metro Edition in the area of Appellate Counsel from 2008-2021.

He is admitted to the New York Bar, the U.S. District Court, Eastern and Southern Districts of New York, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, U.S. Court of the Armed Forces, U.S. Court of Federal Claims and the U.S. Supreme Court.