Having served on the bench for nearly 20 years, the Honorable Larry S. Schachner (Ret.) has developed an impeccable reputation for his judicial temperament, integrity, and superior settlement skills.

His judicial career began in 1999 after being appointed Housing Court Judge of the Civil Court where he presided over New York City residential landlord-tenant cases which included non-payments, holdovers, and proceedings involving enforcement of the Multiple Dwelling Law and Housing Maintenance Code. Four years later, Judge Schachner was elected Judge of the Civil Court where he oversaw a myriad of civil litigation including negligence, medical malpractice, contracts, commercial landlord-tenant disputes, consumer credit transactions, and small claims matters. Thereafter, he served as a trial judge in the IAS Part where he adjudicated personal injury actions and issued countless decisions on pending motions.

In 2007, Judge Schachner was appointed Acting Justice of the Supreme Court by the Chief Administrative Judge, Jonathan Lippman, where he presided over the City Part in Bronx County managing an inventory of over 5,000 tort cases. As Acting Justice, he also heard numerous pre-trial conferences to resolve issues and settle litigation, as well as ready cases for trial assignment. In 2014, Judge Schachner was elected Justice of the Supreme Court where he was assigned to the Special Trial Part in Bronx County. While in the Special Part, he was regularly engaged in settlement negotiations regarding all pending trial ready tort cases and commercial matters and rendered numerous decisions and orders on pending motions. For six years, Judge Schachner was responsible for supervising and handling cases involving the NYC Transit Authority, MTA, and MABSTOA matters which included motor vehicle, labor law, construction, and train accident cases and has handled insurance coverage cases involving contractors and subcontractors. He has been rated “Highly Qualified” by the New York State Independent Judicial Election Qualification Commission.

Judge Schachner has also acted as a Special Master to supervise discovery and rule on discovery issues in complex litigation cases. His experience on the bench has given him a broad range of knowledge in numerous areas of the law related to employment (including matters related to sexual harassment, discrimination, and hostile work environment claims, among others), construction, labor law, maritime law / jones act, medical malpractice, municipal liability, negligence, premises liability, real estate, tort, and product liability, and personal injury.

Judge Schachner was voted a Top Ten Mediator in the 2023 New York Law Journal “Best Of” Survey and in 2019, for the second year in a row, he was voted a Top Ten Arbitrator in New York State by the survey respondents. He was also named a National Law Journal Alternative Dispute Resolution Champion, as part of a select group of only 46 nationwide. He is a zealous proponent of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). His ability to approach matters fairly and in an unbiased manner, combined with his even temperament, makes him extremely well suited to the role of arbitrator/mediator and an excellent choice for both plaintiff and defense counsel.

Judge Schachner is available to mediate and arbitrate cases throughout the New York Metro area.