Steven L. Kessler practices white collar criminal law in New York and is counsel to Kessler & Kessler in Manhattan. Prior to entering private practice, Kessler was head of the Asset Forfeiture Unit of the Bronx District Attorney=s Office in New York, where he supervised and litigated all phases of forfeiture and related matters. In that capacity, he served as a member of the Forfeiture Law Advisory Group of the New York State District Attorney=s Association.
Kessler is a recognized expert in the field of forfeiture law. He has written and lectured extensively on topics relating to forfeiture. He is the author of Civil and Criminal Forfeiture: Federal and State Practice (West Group 1993 & Supp. 2004), a three-volume treatise, now in its thirteenth release, analyzing the forfeiture and RICO statutes of all 50 states and the District of Columbia and the major federal forfeiture provisions. The second addition of his one volume handbook, New York Criminal and Civil Forfeiture (Gould 2004), originally published in the Spring 1999, was released in September 2004. Kessler is a regular contributor to the New York Law Journal on issues relating to forfeiture and criminal law and is the author and Revisions Editor of eight chapters in Weinstein, Korn & Miller=s New York Civil Practice. He is widely quoted and cited in court opinions and media of legal and general circulation nationwide, and represents clients in forfeiture and white collar criminal cases in state and federal district and appellate courts nationwide. Kessler is an Adjunct Professor of Law at New York Law School, and is listed in Who=s Who in American Law.
He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Criminal Justice Section of the New York State Bar Association, and the Forfeiture Abuse Task Force of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and serves as Co-Chair of the Forfeiture Law subcommittee of the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. He is the Treasurer of the NYSACDL and has served on the Association=s Board of Directors.
A graduate of the Cornell Law School, Kessler served from 1999-2001 as Chair of the General Practice Section of the New York State Bar Association. Between 1989 and 2001, he served as editor of One on One, the General Practice Section=s highly acclaimed newsletter, and he edited the Section=s monthly Fax Update for many years. He served for eight years as a member of the NYSBA=s House of Delegates and was Chair of the Association=s Special Committee on AIDS and the Law from 1992 to 1996. He is a Fellow of the New York Bar Foundation. Kessler also served as Chair of the NYSBA=s Committee on Solo and Small Firm Practitioners.
Kessler is a member of the New York and Connecticut Bars and is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court.
