Leavitt Kerson & Duane

What Leavitt Kerson & Duane does

Leavitt Kerson & Duane (currently operating as the Law Offices of Leavitt Kerson & Sehati) is a privately held New York City-based law firm founded in the 1980s by Paul E. Kerson after his tenure as an assistant district attorney in Westchester County. The firm practices in three core areas: criminal defense (handling homicide, attempted homicide, drug offenses, white-collar crime, assault, and DWI), commercial litigation (business disputes, partner disagreements, regulatory complaints, and international matters), and trusts and estates (contested wills, trust disputes, estate planning, and elder law). Sub-practices include foreclosure defense, will drafting, and estate administration delivered through partners Marc Leavitt and Tali Sehati alongside Kerson.

The firm operates through two physical offices — a Manhattan office at 1700 Broadway and a Queens office at 118-35 Queens Blvd. in Forest Hills — and uses a direct, sales-led go-to-market in which prospective clients reach the attorneys via phone, email, or in-person visit. No-charge initial consultations serve as the primary lead-generation mechanism, supported by Kerson's SuperLawyers ranking, his editorship of the Queens Bar Bulletin, and his leadership positions in the Queens County Bar Association and Criminal Courts Bar Association of Queens County.

The firm bills clients under a professional services model on attorney hourly rates or fixed fees for specific matters, with no publicly disclosed rates. There is no proprietary technology platform; the practice runs on standard professional services infrastructure with no disclosed AI tooling, data assets, or software products. Notable case outcomes include a $7.65 million jury verdict in Britt v. Garcia (2004), a $5 million recovery for the Nacher estate in the Mandowsky-Nacher v. Dresdner Bank litigation, five homicide or attempted homicide acquittals, and a 15-year Nassau County contested estate settlement — credentials that the firm markets through its website, content publishing, and bar association channels.

Name

Leavitt Kerson & Duane

Legal name

Law Offices of Leavitt Kerson & Sehati

Website

https://paulkersonattorney.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1980

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Leavitt Kerson & Duane, now operating as Law Offices of Leavitt Kerson & Sehati, is a private New York City law firm offering criminal defense, commercial litigation, and trusts and estates services to individuals, families, and businesses across Manhattan and Queens.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Legal Services

NAICS

Offices of Lawyers (541110), Legal Services (5411)

SIC

Services-Legal Services (8111)

akta.pro primary industry

White-Collar Defense & Investigations (BPAHAAAJ)

akta.pro secondary industry

Family & Private Client (Trusts & Estates) Law (BPAHAAAK)

Keywords

• Criminal defense services
• Commercial litigation
• Trusts and estates law
• Estate planning
• Elder law

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Legal Services Billing: Professional legal services billed to clients for criminal defense, commercial litigation, and trusts & estates matters. Services include initial consultations provided at no charge. Revenue derived from attorney hourly rates and/or fixed fees for specific legal matters.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Leavitt Kerson & Duane (operating as Law Offices of Leavitt Kerson & Sehati) is a New York-based law firm providing criminal defense, commercial/business litigation, and trusts and estates legal services. The firm represents individuals accused of criminal offenses, companies involved in business disputes, and families dealing with contested estates. Complementary sub-services include elder law, estate planning, will drafting, estate administration, and foreclosure defense.

Product overview

The Law Offices of Leavitt Kerson & Sehati is a unified law firm offering a portfolio of legal services through Paul E. Kerson and his partners Marc Leavitt and Tali Sehati. The core services include Criminal Defense (handling homicide, drug offenses, white-collar crime), Commercial Litigation (business disputes, international cases), and Trusts & Estates (contested wills, estate administration). The firm also offers complementary sub-specialties in Elder Law, Estate Planning, Will Drafting, and Foreclosure Defense, all delivered through the unified brand of the law practice.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Criminal Defense

Quantifiable outcome

• Dismissal with prejudice of foreclosure case against major bank due to filing against wrong person and bank's failure to provide documentation
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• European Co-Counsel (unnamed)coreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerRetained co-counsel in Europe to help prosecute the complex Mandowsky-Nacher v. Dresdner Bank international business litigation, which resulted in substantial recovery for the Nacher family 70 years after the theft of their property by Nazi-era financial institutions.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Emerging players

• LegalZoom: Online legal services platform offering standardized estate planning, business formation, and limited dispute-related services. Comparable as an emerging disruptor in the trusts & estates and basic legal services segments that competes on price and convenience rather than bespoke representation.

Direct peers

• Marc A. Agnifilo, Esq. Boutique New York criminal defense practice founded by a former federal prosecutor with comparable pedigree, individual-rainmaker model, and premium-fee positioning on serious criminal matters.
• Barket Epstein Kearon Aldea & LoTurco: Long Island/NYC criminal defense, civil rights, and appellate firm with a multi-attorney partner structure. Comparable as a small-to-mid-size New York litigation boutique focused on serious criminal defense and high-stakes civil matters.
• Tilem & Associates: New York City criminal defense firm led by a veteran trial attorney with comparable experience handling homicide and serious felony cases. Directly comparable as a small NYC criminal defense boutique competing in the same white-collar and homicide defense market.
• Belief Law (formerly Brown, LLC): New York City estate planning, trusts & estates, and elder law boutique. Comparable as a small specialized firm offering the same trust/estate and elder law service lines that Leavitt Kerson delivers through partners Marc Leavitt and Tali Sehati.
• Salvo Law Firm: Long Island-based criminal defense and litigation firm with a similar small-partner structure and multi-jurisdictional New York practice. Comparable as a regional boutique competing in similar criminal defense and commercial litigation matters across the NYC metro area.

Broad incumbents

• Sullivan & Cromwell: Elite New York-headquartered law firm with premier commercial litigation, white-collar defense, and trusts & estates practices. Comparable as a broad incumbent operating in the same New York legal market across the firm's practice areas, but at a global scale and serving enterprise clients.
• White & Case: Global full-service law firm headquartered in New York with a litigation practice spanning commercial disputes, white-collar defense, and trusts work. Comparable as a large incumbent offering overlapping capabilities across all three of the subject firm's practice areas, though at vastly different scale.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/leavitt-kerson-&-duane

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Leavitt Kerson & Duane