Meir concentrates his practice on defending complex transportation and trucking-related litigation in New York and New Jersey. With a diverse legal background, his experience ranges from criminal defense to general liability matters. Prior to joining the firm, Meir served as a trial attorney, managing extensive caseloads involving both misdemeanors and felonies through all phases of litigation.

Outside of the office, Meir enjoys spending time with his family, traveling and cooking.

Christina concentrates her practice on representing automobile insurance and general liability coverage companies, along with their insureds, in litigation involving bodily injury claims, property damage, and coverage disputes. She also has extensive experience handling no-fault matters for both traditional insurance companies and self-insured entities. Before joining Gallo Vitucci Klar LLP, Christina spent nearly a decade representing plaintiffs in civil litigation, guiding cases from discovery through trial.

Outside of the office, Christina enjoys spending time with her husband and son.

Richard J. Gallo, a founding member of the Firm, has 30 years of experience in defending high profile and complex litigation in both State and Federal Court. He specializes in multiple party construction litigation, premises liability including dram shop litigation, transportation and insurance coverage matters. He also works directly with several Lloyds of London Syndicates in the defense of their general liability matters and assists the various Syndicates in reducing legal expenses and increasing profits overall.

Richard has successfully tried over 100 cases in both New York and New Jersey Courts. Over the past several years, he has earned a reputation among many of his clients for his trial preparedness and he has recently been transferred several high profile matters on the eve of trial.  His victories include successfully trying high profile multi-million dollar cases for various well known New York City restaurants and bar establishments, which have garnered national and regional headlines.  Founding the firm’s emergency response team for the NY and NJ area bars and restaurants, Richard has brought to the forefront the importance of preservation of key materials and witnesses to the successful defense of dram shop litigation in NY and NJ.

Richard is also a founding member of the Themis Advocates Group, a national organization of approximately 25 top tier defense litigation firms nationwide.  Themis member firms can be found in almost every major city in the US.  Themis provides its clients with the most skilled, aggressive and cost-efficient legal services by maintaining a national network of preeminent law firms that share information, procedures, technology, and client feedback. One of the cornerstones of the organization is the active participation of its clients and members alike at the multiple industry wide events which support meaningful communications year round. Themis participation by its clients continues to grow since its inception 10 years ago. The Annual Themis Mock Trial is attended by hundreds of insurance professionals in the industry every year nationwide.

Richard’s legal articles have been published in the New York Law Journal and he is a frequent lecturer on various insurance defense topics at insurance companies and claims associations nationwide.

Matthew J. Vitucci is a founding member of the firm and leads the firm’s transportation department. His practice focuses on the defense of insured and self-insured transportation companies and varied general litigation matters for several Lloyds of London Syndicates and U.S. insurers.

Matthew began his career in the City of New York in 1987, and he now represents clients in the Five Boroughs of the City of New York, Long Island, and counties North of New York and throughout New Jersey. His practice encompasses the defense of complex and often catastrophic injury cases for various transportation insurers, self-insured companies. He also represents general liability matters for U.S.- and London-based insurers in diverse actions such as products liability, premises liability, toxic torts, workplace accidents, and professional and medical malpractice.

Matthew is a well renowned trial attorney in the City and State of New York and New Jersey. Over the course of his lengthy career, he has tried over 100 cases to verdict in both state and federal courts.

Matthew is one of the founders of Themis Advocates Group – a national organization of carefully vetted defense firms that through cooperative endeavors can provide legal coverage/expertise for matters involving GVK clients.

In addition to his service on the board of directors of Themis Advocates group, Matthew serves his community as a board member of the Reydon Shores Property Owners Association and as a member of the Board of Ethics for the Town of Oyster Bay.

When not in the office, Matthew enjoys spending time with his wife and family, as well as boating and fishing on the east end of Long Island.

One of the founding members of Gallo Vitucci Klar LLP and current Managing Partner, Howard has over 25 years of experience in complex civil litigation cases including construction defense, transportation, insurance coverage, premises cases, professional liability and product liability matters.

Howard’s area of expertise includes high exposure and sensitive litigation arising out of the defense of general contractors in the New York City crane collapse cases, common carrier litigation and products liability defense. Howard was appointed as lead counsel to formulate and successfully execute the global settlement resulting out of the 2008 East 51^st crane collapse which caused numerous fatalities and extensive and costly property damage. He also defended one of the country’s largest bus companies when its double decker bus crashed into a Syracuse bridge resulting in fatalities and catastrophic injuries, as well as defending one of the country’s largest big box stores in numerous product liability cases brought by plaintiffs alleging both severe and disfiguring burns caused by alleged improperly designed decorative “liquid gel” candles.

Under Howard’s leadership, GVK has tripled its numbers and expanded its offices to include New York City, New Jersey, Westchester and Long Island. By fostering the addition of non-traditional practice groups and adding attorneys who promote the highest level of skill and expertise, Howard maintains a philosophy and culture that fosters economic efficiency on behalf of GVK’s clients.

Howard is a founding member and a leader of the Themis Advocates Group, a national network of elite insurance defense litigators in most of the major cities in the US. Themis provides GVK with a national footprint that many regional firms lack, high-level educational opportunities and an enhanced means of communication for its insurance and self-insured defense clients. Howard has been a regular presenter on varied insurance topics at Themis Conferences around the country.

Howard has annually been named one of New York’s “Super Lawyers” since 2011, an honor received by only five percent of New York lawyers each year. Howard is a 1989 graduate of Boston University School of Law and a 1986 graduate of Emory University.

Andrea specializes in the wind-down of run-off programs, large scale settlement projects and legacy portfolio management. Andrea works directly with reinsurers and private equity groups to quickly evaluate and actively negotiate files for immediate resolution for those clients interested in reducing shelf life, legal and indemnity expenses.

Since joining Gallo Vitucci Klar in 2016, Andrea’s carrier clients have transferred over 500 active NY labor law lawsuits from other insurance defense firms. These transfers resulted in efficient, cost effective, and favorable resolutions for both the carrier and the insured. The carriers have saved millions of dollars in both indemnity and legal expenses and over two million dollars in previously abandoned or neglected past legal fees were recovered.

Over the past 14 years, Andrea has reviewed, monitored and provided her clients with action plans for over 14,000 claims. She provides clients with a cost-effective way to manage large books of business by expanding on the traditional attorney-client relationship. She advises her clients on issues including adequate loss and expense reserves, loss analysis, cost effective litigation management and the implementation of proven resolution techniques from the inception of the claim. Andrea is also National Coordinating Counsel for Nationwide Auto, General Liability and Construction Defect Programs.

Andrea’s traditional insurance defense practice focuses on general liability matters including construction accident and defect, premises cases, hospitality, dram shop litigation, automobile defense, subrogation and property damage.

Andrea lives in Glen Rock, NJ with her husband, 3 kids and dog named Bob.

Melissa has specialized in the defense of malpractice claims against nursing homes, physicians, dentists, hospitals, and other health care providers for over twenty years in both New York and New Jersey. She also has significant experience in the defense of general personal injury and excess casualty claims.

Melissa has lectured and conducted Legal seminars for health care professionals to improve and assure quality assurance in Nursing Homes and Long Term Skilled Nursing facilities as well as how to assist in the defense of lawsuits. She has also conducted seminars for attorneys for continuing education credit. Melissa also has experience in real estate closings and has defended misdemeanor offenses in criminal court, and traffic violations in the five boroughs of New York, as well as counties north and east of New York and in New Jersey.  She has Appellate experience having written briefs and argued cases in the New York Appellate Divisions, First and Second Departments. Melissa has also implemented and supervised law firm quality assurance programs for carriers, to increase efficient administration and adjustment of claims.

Terry is the head of the First Party Coverage and Litigation Practice Group and has over 45 years’ experience as coverage and litigation counsel to major insurance companies and self-insureds. Terry was a Founder and Managing Partner of Rubin, Fiorella, Friedman & Mercante LLP prior to the merger of operations with GVK. 

Terry specializes in complex first party coverage investigations and litigation with emphasis on all forms of property damage involving commercial and residential property, arson, fraud, jewelers block, fine arts, personal property, business interruption and vehicle thefts/fires. Examples of his representations include: 

• Successful jury verdicts in arson and fraud cases. 
• Handled numerous extra contractual and punitive damage matters. 
• Conducted thousands of first party examinations under oath and coverage investigations. 
• Establish landmark law in New York with respect compliance with policy conditions involving production of records, examinations under oath, proofs of loss and insurable interest. 
• Assisted insurance companies and self-insureds in establishing Special Investigation Units. 
• Conducted seminars at industry functions in the US and London on all aspects of first party claims and procedures. 
• Appeared before Insurance Departments in every state in the US and testified before state legislators on insurance and related regulatory issues. 
• Resident partner in London for five years. 
• Lead attorney representing the New York State Insurance Department on all aspects of the reinsurance of Lloyd’s of London into Equitas. 
• Assisted insurance companies and self-insureds in responding to consumer complaints before Insurance Departments. 
• Represented major rental car companies on a national basis on insurance regulatory issues.
• Representation of London Underwriters in a program involving 200+ cases in the Virgin Islands and St. Croix. 

When not assisting clients, Terry enjoys spending time with his family as well as tennis and golf.

Ken was a founding member of Rubin, Fiorella, Friedman & Mercante, LLP and was the leader of the firm’s Litigation, Insurance Coverage and Insurance Defense departments. After merging operations with Gallo Vitucci Klar LLP, Ken assumed the leadership of the firm’s Coverage Department, an area where he has concentrated his practice over the last several years.  

Ken has developed a specialty practice in the handling and pursuit of additional insured coverage claims, as well as complex coverage issues under General Liability and related policy forms. Over the past 10 plus years, Ken has recovered several millions of dollars of past legal fees that were abandoned or thought to be unrecoverable, as well as primary additional insured coverage in excess of $50m.  Ken’s clients include commercial insurers and self-insured entities. He has worked closely with clients to establish game plans to reduce the legal and indemnity expenses in complex cases, taking a practical and strategic approach to resolution of claims. Ken’s prior experience includes the direct handling of defense of Labor Law, Premises Liability and Auto claims, which provides a strong background to properly evaluate how coverage positions can impact the exposure in cases and how to achieve best overall results for his clients.  

Ken lives in Katonah, New York, with his wife, Ellen, who recently retired as a speech pathologist in the Scarsdale School District. They both enjoy spending time with their children and grandchildren and at their second home in Lake Placid, New York.

Charlene Joseph concentrates her practice in trucking and transportation law. She has experience providing comprehensive legal counsel in litigation and alternative dispute resolution for accident defense within the automobile and transportation industry, as well as general liability claims. Charlene has successfully represented clients in New York State Court. Her proactive and detail-oriented approach ensures that clients receive the most efficient legal solutions.

Outside of the office, Charlene enjoys traveling and photography.