Alexander Klein is the head of Barket Epstein’s commercial litigation unit and a co-chair of its division on Civil Rights. He joined the firm in 2013 after having worked for the Bank of New York Mellon and Merrill Lynch, as well as on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Since joining the firm, Mr. Klein has helped grow the civil litigation practice exponentially.

In the commercial sphere, he has represented and won cases for companies of all sizes, from growing local businesses to international publicly traded corporations. He has won cases that clients and prior lawyers labeled “impossible,” and won decisions that changed the law in a variety of his clients’ respective industries. To that end, Mr. Klein has achieved breakthroughs in legal arenas including ways to attack ADR provisions in commercial contracts, the rights of accused students in Title IX proceedings, the rights of defaulting borrowers in high stakes debtor-creditor disputes, employee work-rights in the face of overly restrictive “trade secret” agreements, and the ability of auto body shops to obtain fair labor rates using New York’s Lien Law—among other topics.

In addition to his commercial practice, Mr. Klein has been a driving force in Barket Epstein’s renowned division on civil rights. In that capacity, he has contributed to several newsworthy matters, including the record-breaking wrongful conviction settlements on behalf of Samuel Brownridge, and Christopher Loeb’s civil action that helped lead to the imprisonment of Suffolk County’s District Attorney and Chief of Police. He has also represented clients in a vast array of other civil rights matters, recovering millions of dollars on behalf of victims of law enforcement abuse.

For his work, Mr. Klein has been recognized by Super Lawyers as a “Rising Star.”

Recognition

• Recognized by Super Lawyers as a “Rising Star” in the field of white collar defense, 2015-2023
• Recognized as “Outstanding Young Lawyer” in the “Top Attorneys” list by American Registry.

Associations

• New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
• Nassau County Bar Association, Commercial Litigation Committee

Contact Mr. Klein today at (888) 779-0267.

Education

• J.D. | Articles Editor, Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution; Staff Attorney, Securities Arbitration Clinic 
  • Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, New York, NY, 2012
• B.A. in Economics
  • University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, 2007

Licenses

• New York State Courts
• United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
• United States District Court SDNY/EDNY

Publications

• “Litigators and Courts Should Recognize the Difference Between Probable Cause and Probable Cause” (New York Law Journal, 2025) View Here
• “Prosecutorial Immunity and the Framework for Its Death” (New York Law Journal, 2024) View Here
• “Make the Court of Claims Modern Again” (New York Law Journal, 2022) View Here
• "Our New Criminal Sealing Law is a Win for Behavioral Economics” (Atticus Magazine, 2017)
• “Luis v. United States: How the Supreme Court Should Decide a Landmark Case in White Collar Criminal Law” (Thomson Reuters, 2016) View Here
• “Why Newman Should be Affirmed” (New York Law Journal, 2015)

Notable Decisions

• Terrell v. Kiromic Biopharma Inc., 338 A.3d 1272 (Del. Sup. Ct., 2025) (obtained reversal of Chancery Court for second time in same case, defeating publicly traded corporation on behalf of former director and consultant);
• Harrison v. City of New York, 2025 WL 3204962 (E.D.N.Y. 2025) (secured successful decision against United States in proceedings arising under the Administrative Procedure Act, substantially denying federal government’s attempt to withhold information from civil rights proceedings against New York City);
• Callahan v. Wilson, 96 F.4th 362 (2d Cir. 2024) (obtained reversal, leading to settlement in police deadly force case on eve of trial);
• Harris v. Tioga County, 2024 WL 4179651 (2d Cir. 2024) (obtained dismissal of appeal,  leaving in place rare piercing of prosecutorial immunity, leading to settlement with district attorney);
• Mark Opco dba The Mark Hotel v. Weintraub, 157515/2023 (Sup. Ct., New York Co. 2023) (securing complete dismissal of counterclaims against client-hotel).
• Jesberger v. CVS Health Solutions, 222 A.D3d 849 (2d Dept. 2023) (obtained reversal in defamation case, contributing to frontier of slander litigation);
• Terrell v. Kiromic BioPharma, 297 A.D3d 610 (Del. Sup. Ct., 2023) (obtained reversal of Chancery Court, creating new law in reviewability of certain ADR mechanisms);
• Harris v. Tioga County et al., 2023 WL 2604125 (N.D.N.Y. 2023) (defeated summary judgment across wide variety of civil rights claims, including, inter alia, claims against prosecutor notwithstanding extremely broad shelter of prosecutorial immunity);
• Parker v. Nassau County et al., 15-CV-1258 (E.D.N.Y., March 10, 2021) (defeated summary judgment in rare “Monell” claim against County for management of local jail, paving way for settlement on behalf of prisoner);
• Discover Growth Fund v. Generex Biotechnology Corp., 2020-0688 (Del. Ch., Sept. 25, 2020) (secured win for debtor-defendant with its back against the wall in high stakes commercial case in the Delaware Court of Chancery);
• A.E. v. Hamilton College, 173 A.D.3d 1753 (4th Dept. 2019) (obtained vacatur of college disciplinary determination, removing sanction and allowing student-client to graduate);
• Arma v. East Islip Union Free School Dist., 171 A.D.3d 1122 (2d Dept. 2019) (successfully affirmed trial court win on discovery motion for personal injury plaintiff, reinforcing distinction in the law between confidentiality of youthful offender proceedings and of facts underlying those proceedings);
• Pepe v. Dept. of Motor Vehicles, 175 A.D.3d 691 (2d Dept. 2019) (obtained vacatur of administrative determination that had revoked client’s license after traffic accident resulting in death, leading Appellate Division to rule that there was “no evidence to support the determination” of client’s fault);
• Callahan v. Wilson, 863 F.3d 144 (2d Cir. 2017) (obtained reversal in high stakes civil rights appeal, cementing rules concerning type of probable cause police must harbor in order to use deadly force);
• North Shore Architectural Stone, Inc. v. American Artisan Const., Inc., 153 A.D.3d 1420 (2d Dept. 2017) (obtained reversal on behalf of commercial plaintiff, paving way for claims against corporate director notwithstanding director’s claimed entitlement to corporate veil).
• Williams v. County of Nassau, 2016 WL 6994312 (E.D.N.Y. 2016) (defeating summary judgment in false arrest and malicious prosecution claim on behalf of plaintiff, helping define contours of these claims in context of multi-agency involvement in arrest).