PETER J. GALASSO, ESQ.

Education:
Boston University School of Law, 1981
SUNY Albany, 1978 (BA, Magna Cum Laude)

 

Practice Areas:
Peter J. Galasso is one of the founding partners of the firm.  With a wealth of litigation experience, and a penchant for finding common ground, Mr. Galasso views his role as a manager, troubleshooter, and litigator of family law issues. His greatest achievements are found in the improved lives of his matrimonial clients.

Mr. Galasso’s wide-ranging litigation experience includes all aspects of matrimonial law including custody disputes, support and equitable distribution.  He has extensive experience with respect to complex business valuations and enhanced earnings computations involving multi-million dollar wage earners and business owners.

Given his expertise in the field of matrimonial law, Mr. Galasso has been a guest on Cablevisions’s “Families in Transition”, 1010 wins and has contributed to the New York Post and local radio regarding matrimonial matters. In 2010, at the request of the New York State Bar Association and Nassau County Bar Association, Mr. Galasso lectured fellow lawyers on how to best handle business valuations in the context of a contested divorce. Also, in 2010, and at the request of the Nassau County Bar Association, Mr. Galasso lectured fellow attorneys regarding different strategies in litigating Orders of Protection in Family Court.

Mr. Galasso also has appeared in New York Newsday, the Daily News, the New York Post, People Magazine and US Weekly regarding his representation of numerous high profile clients. 

 

Achievements:
Mr. Galasso is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, a national organization that awards membership only to those attorneys who have demonstrated exceptional knowledge and successfully passed the rigorous written and oral examinations given by the Academy.

Mr. Galasso has also been designated as a mentor to the Nassau County Bar Association to address members' questions pertaining to Family Law matters, was selected as a Barrister to the American Inns of Court, and is admitted to practice in the New York and New Jersey Bar, the Federal Court and the U.S. Tax Court.

He has also edited Matthew Bender's Equitable Distribution resource text of its three volume treatise on Divorce.

Mr. Galasso has lectured at several CLE accredited matrimonial courses and has participated as an adjunct professor in the NITA trial techniques course held at Hofstra University School of Law.

Publications:
Among Mr. Galasso’s numerous publications are the following:

• Setting Aside the Mediated Agreement, New York Law Journal, November 1, 2000, page 1. This article explains how a mediated agreement is not safe from challenge.

• Extreme Measures, New York Law Journal, January 3, 1997, page 2. This article examines the trend established by the Court of Appeals decisions in Cassano, Hartog, Powers, Tropea and McSparron;

• Validating Hocus Pocus, New York Law Journal, September 14, 1995, page 2. This article questions the evidentiary value of the testimony of validators in child abuse cases;

• Prejudging the Arbitration of Custody, New York Law Journal, November 23, 1994. This article supports the right of parties to refer visitation and other issues to an arbitrator and was included in the bibliography on the subject to the Final Report to the Chief Judge by the Committee on the Profession and the Courts, November, 1995;

• Whose Children Are They Anyway?, New York Law Journal, April 29, 1994, page 1. This article examines the constitutional and pragmatic implication of the grandparent visitation statute and is cited in McKinney's Practice Commentaries under Domestic Relations Law §72 as authoritative on the subject;

• The Exclusive Occupancy Paradox, New York Law Journal, December 5, 1990 (Perspective Column), page 2.This article examines the law governing the exclusive occupancy of the marital premises.

• Rolling the Dice "Pendente Lite", Vol. 24 Family Law Review No. 2, page 3, June 1992 quarterly publication. This article chronicles the uncertainty and potential problems caused by interim support orders rendered in response to pendente lite applications;

• Precedent Without Leeds, The Nassau Lawyer. This article laments the lack of leadership found in judicial decisions of the Courts that confront the distribution of a party's enhanced earnings capacity.

In addition to the above, a number of Mr. Galasso's opinions and letters have been published by the New York Law Journal over the years on a wide range of matrimonial topics.

 

Personal:
Mr. Galasso’s wonderful family includes his very patient wife, Lorraine, and their two lovable sons Jake, who will be attending the University of Pennsylvania in the fall and Luke.  Mr. Galasso also enjoys a very active lifestyle and is an avid tennis player.