John M. Brickman, head of the litigation group at Ackerman, Levine, Cullen, Brickman & Limmer, LLP, of Great Neck, New York, practices primarily in the areas of commercial litigation and trusts and estates disputes. He has tried more than 100 cases before federal and state courts and arbitration tribunals, and has argued more than 100 appeals. He devotes particular attention to contract, corporate, partnership, trusts and estates, employment, intellectual property, unfair competition, civil racketeering, real estate, and construction cases, and frequently represents parties in disputes between principals of professional practices and substantial closely-held businesses.
Mr. Brickman was appointed a Commissioner of the New York State Commission on Legislative Ethics in July 2016. He served from 2007 to 2011 as a Commissioner of the New York State Commission on Public Integrity, the agency that enforced state lobbying and public employee ethics laws and regulations. He is a member of the Town of North Hempstead Working Group to revise the Town’s Ethics Code. From 2005 to 2009, he was a Director of the Nassau Health Care Corporation, and from 2005 to 2008, he served as Chairman of the Correctional Association of New York, where he remains a Director. Until 2014, he was President and a Director of The Levitt Foundation, and he is Vice Chairman and a Director of the Long Island Medical Foundation. From 1992 to 1994, he served as a Trustee of The Johns Hopkins University and President of The Johns Hopkins Alumni Association.
Mr. Brickman is active in bar association, educational, and community activities. He is a member of the National Panel of Arbitrators of the American Arbitration Association. Annually, he chairs a Continuing Legal Education program on lawyers’ ethics and civility, presented by the New York State Bar Association. From 1991 to 2006, he was Adjunct Professor of Law at Touro College, Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center, where he taught the course in Pre-Trial Litigation to senior law students. He writes and speaks regularly on legal ethics and public issues, including the administration of correctional and criminal justice agencies.
Mr. Brickman received his undergraduate degree from Johns Hopkins and his J.D. degree cum laude in 1969 from Columbia University School of Law, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and Dean's List Scholar and served as Revision Editor of the Columbia Journal of Law and Social Problems. From 1971 to 1975, he served as Executive Director of the New York City Board of Correction, the agency of New York City government that oversees the operation of the New York City prison system and issues reports and recommendations for change.