Larry H. Krantz

Larry H. Krantz is a former federal prosecutor with over thirty years of trial and appellate litigation experience in both complex commercial and white-collar criminal matters.  He has tried over 25 cases and argued over 20 appeals.  He is a Member of the Board of Regents of the American College of Trial Lawyers (an invitation only Fellowship); a Director of the Federal Bar Council; the Chair of the Federal Bar Council’s Committee on Sentencing; a Member of the Local Rules Committee for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York;  and a former Director of the New York Council of Defense Lawyers.  He has been selected to SuperLawyers every year since 2009 and is a member of its Blue-Ribbon Panel on white-collar criminal defense.

He has been described in Forbes as “among the most eminent defense lawyers in New York’s criminal bar.” His cross-examination of the government’s star witness at a trial arising out of the Madoff fraud was described in Forbes as “hitting it off the facade of the New York Stock exchange.” He prides himself on representing his clients with tenacity, creativity, compassion and integrity.

In commercial matters, Mr. Krantz regularly represents public and private companies (including financial institutions and insurers) in the prosecution and defense of complex business disputes including claims of:  breach of contract; fraud; breach of fiduciary duty; antitrust and unfair competition violations; RICO Act violations; and professional malpractice claims.  He has particular expertise representing life insurance carriers in disputes concerning life insurance policies.

In criminal and regulatory matters, Mr. Krantz represents corporate executives and others drawn into investigations conducted by federal and state authorities including: the United States Attorney’s Offices, the District Attorney’s Offices, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), FINRA and various other regulators. Over the past three decades, he has been involved in many of the highest profile white-collar criminal cases and investigations including: the trial of a Chief Assistant District Attorney charged with obstruction of justice; the Special Counsel’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential election; the Madoff fraud (six month trial); “Dieselgate” (the use of “defeat devices” to evade EPA emissions standards); LIBOR manipulation cases; Insider Trading at various hedge funds; Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations in Africa and elsewhere; the Enron fraud; and other major accounting, bank and securities frauds.

He also represents individual investors, brokers and brokerage houses in FINRA arbitrations and proceedings concerning alleged broker misconduct.

Mr. Krantz regularly lectures and instructs lawyers and law students on the subject of trial advocacy, and was an Adjunct Instructor of Legal Writing at Brooklyn Law School.

Experience

• Proskauer LLP – Litigation Associate (1980-1982);
• Honorable I. Leo Glasser, United States District Judge, Eastern District New York – Law Clerk (1982-1983);
• United States Attorneys’ Office, Eastern District of New York – Assistant United States Attorney, Criminal Division (1983-1989);
• Brooklyn Law School, Adjunct Instructor of Legal Writing (1985-1988)
• Leventhal, Slade & Krantz – Partner (1990-1997)
• Krantz & Berman LLP (Co-Founding Partner since 1998)

Education

• Brooklyn Law School, JD 1980
• Brooklyn Law Review, Case Comment Editor (1979-1980)
• Dean’s List
• Student law clerk on Second Circuit Court of Appeals
• SUNY at Stony Brook (B.A. 1977)

Honors and Activities

• Fellow and Regent of the American College of Trial Lawyers.
• Listed in SuperLawyers from 2009 -2020.
• Director of the New York Council of Defense Lawyers (former), and currently serves as its Luncheon Chair.
• Director of the Federal Bar Council and serves as the Chair of its Committee on Sentencing and Alternatives to Incarceration.
• Member of the Joint Local Rules Committee for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York as well as the Attorney Grievance Committee for the Southern District of New York.
• Master in the Federal Bar Council Inn of Court

Publications

• “Mistrial Over Defense Objection: Review Under the Double Jeopardy Clause,” published at 45 Brooklyn Law Review 999 (1979)
• Defending Federal Criminal Cases: Attacking the Government’s Proof (Law Journal Press 2018) – Chapter author

Bar Admissions

• New York (1981)
• Eastern District of New York (1983)
• Southern District of New York (1993)
• District of Connecticut (1993)
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (1989)
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (1993)
• U.S. States Supreme Court (1996).

Philanthropy

• Board Member, National Fragile X Foundation
• Member, National Council of Visitors, UC Davis MIND Institute