Joseph Genova, a partner in the New York office of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy since 1986, oversees the firm’s worldwide public service activities.
Mr. Genova has experience in general commercial litigation and alternative dispute resolution, including contract, securities fraud, unfair competition and reorganization issues; shareholder disputes in closely held companies; public utility acquisitions; and with federal qui tam (whistleblower) litigation.
Since becoming Milbank’s Director of Public Service in 1993, Mr. Genova has developed expertise in civil rights matters, and in various aspects of the representation of poor persons and non-profit organizations, while administering one of the most robust public service programs of any major law firm.
Mr. Genova is a mediator and arbitrator, appointed by the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.
Mr. Genova has received numerous awards and other recognition, at the federal, state and local level, for his public interest work. He is a fellow of the American and New York Bar Foundations.
He has served on the boards of directors of many public interest organizations dealing with the provision of legal services to the poor, and, from 2011 to 2014, chaired the board of Legal Services – New York City, the largest low-income civil legal services provider in the United States.
From time to time, Mr. Genova serves on, and has often chaired, bar committees and commissions relevant to pro bono at the request of the ABA, State and City bars, the Federal Bar Council and the Chief Judge of the State of New York. In addition he served on the City Bar’s Committee on the Judiciary beginning in 1988-1991 (and has done so intermittently since then) and was its vice-chairman from 1990-1991. He served on the Disciplinary Committee of the First Judicial Department from 2005 to 2010. He has written and lectured on ethical issues, particularly as they relate to lawyers’ handling of client funds, and is a co-author of a chapter in the NYSBA publication, “Attorney Escrow Accounts” (Third ed., 2010).
