Bob Herbst has been trying civil and criminal cases to juries for almost 40 years. He grew up on the criminal side of the court as a federal prosecutor in Chicago and Philadelphia, where he specialized in major economic crime and public corruption cases, and as Executive Assistant District Attorney in Brooklyn, New York, where he headed the Investigative Bureaus and supervised all of that office’s investigations and prosecutions of white collar crime and official corruption. Since 1983, Mr. Herbst has been in private civil litigation and criminal defense practice, specializing, on the civil side, primarily in civil rights, employment and housing discrimination cases and class actions in the federal and state courts. He has more than 25 years’ experience representing victims of police, corrections and other municipal or state misconduct; sexual harassment and other forms of sex or gender discrimination; race, ethnic, and disability discrimination, and consumer and securities fraud. His experience also includes cases involving whistleblower-protection, malpractice, defamation, false allegations of child abuse, inadequate premises security, commercial, banking and real estate disputes, products liability, and intellectual property. Mr. Herbst has actively represented his clients in mediation and arbitration as well as in court, and often counsels employees prior to, and in an effort to avoid, litigation. He is currently Independent Counsel to the Special Court for Sierra Leone.
Mr. Herbst is a graduate of Princeton University and the Yale Law School. He has taught trial practice to law students, government and private lawyers, and federal judges. He has repeatedly been selected as one of New York’s SuperLawyers and is widely-known as one of New York City’s leading, most experienced and successful private civil rights and employment trial lawyers. He has served on the Executive Board of the New York affiliate of the National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA/NY) and the Advisory Board of NYU’s Center for Labor and Employment Law. He has been an active private pilot for more than 35 years.
Click here to view Robert’s page on superlawyers.com.
Education
J.D., Yale Law School, 1972
B.A., Princeton University, 1969
Magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa
Jurisdictions Admitted to Practice
New York
Supreme Court of the United States
Second Circuit Court of Appeals
Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals
Southern District of New York
Eastern District of New York
Northern District of New York
Eastern District of Pennsylvania (inactive status)
Professional & Bar Association Memberships
Yale Law School Association
Vice President, Executive Committee (2006 – 2011)
Association of the Bar of the City of New York
Member, Committee on Legal Referral Service (2005 – Present)
Member, Committee on International Human Rights (2000 – 2002)
Member, Committee on Federal Legislation (1985 – 1987)
Member, Committee on Criminal Justice Operations (1982 – 1985)
National Employment Lawyers Association of New York
Executive Board of Directors (2004 – 2006)
Criminal Justice Act (CJA) Panels of the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York
(representation of indigent criminal defendants in the federal courts) (1983 – 2001)