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Stephen G. Schwarz

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Stephen G. Schwarz Partner
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Stephen has been a partner at Faraci Lange, LLP since 1988 and served as managing partner from 1995-2023. He focuses his legal practice on product liability, toxic tort and environmental contamination, medical malpractice, civil rights litigation, and other serious personal injury cases in both state and federal courts.

Stephen has been awarded Martindale-Hubbell’s highest rating and has been named Best Lawyers' Lawyer of the Year in Product Liability Litigation, Medical Malpractice, and Personal Injury Litigation multiple times since those awards have been given out, including 2025. He has also been selected to be listed under personal injury law in the Super Lawyers directory every year since 2007, and has been listed as one of the Top 50 Super Lawyers in Upstate New York, and has been named to the Daily Record Power List each year since that list was established. In 2018, Stephen was honored with the Federal Bar Council's Thurgood Marshall Award for exceptional commitment to pro bono service.

Stephen is a former Regent of the American College of Trial Lawyers, where he had responsibility for Upstate New York as well as the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. He has also been appointed the next editor of the ACTL Journal. ACTL is an invitation only organization which selects the best trial lawyers in the United States and Canada for membership after a rigorous vetting process that covers both ability and ethics. He is also a past president of the Rochester Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates and has served on the Boards of the Monroe County Bar Association and Monroe County Bar Foundation.

Stephen recently co-authored a book with David Savitz, Ph.D., entitled Epidemiology and the Law published by Juris Publishing. He has published numerous articles in the Journal of the American College of Trial Lawyers, including Artificial Intelligence/Superficial Lawyering, which chronicled the disastrous results for two lawyers who relied upon ChatGPT to write their brief in federal court, published in the Fall 2023 edition of the ACTL Journal. He has published numerous additional articles in other legal publications such as the New York Bar Journal, Voir Dire Magazine, and Trial Magazine.

Stephen has handled several high-profile civil rights cases in recent years, including the claim brought on behalf of the family of Daniel Prude, who died in police custody in 2020, and the family of Julian Coleman, who was removed from an ambulance by police officers and suffered a heart attack while officers and ambulance attendants looked on in 2023. Most recently, he has been representing the Estate of Robert Brooks, Sr., who was murdered by correctional officers at Marcy Correctional Facility in late 2024. Related to this work, Stephen has joined the board of the Center for Community Alternatives, which is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to reducing incarceration rates and prison sentences and assisting formerly incarcerated individuals to reintegrate into society.

Stephen has served as President of the Board of the Family Resource Centers of Rochester and on the United Way Campaign Cabinet. He currently serves on the Board of Starbridge Services, Inc., and twice served as Chair of the Board. Starbridge is an organization that partners with individuals who have disabilities to help them succeed. He has received the Community Partner award from Starbridge and has also received an award from United Way of Greater Rochester for his service to the community.

Education

  • Albany Law School J.D. 1981
  • State University of New York at Albany B.S. 1978

Practice Area Concentration

  • Medical Malpractice
  • Serious Auto Accident Cases
  • Product Liability
  • Toxic Tort and Environmental Cases
  • Business Litigation
  • Civil Rights Litigation

Accreditations

Invited Memberships

  • American College of Trial Lawyers
  • American Board of Trial Advocates

Memberships

Honors & Awards

  • Best Lawyers – Lawyer of the Year, multiple years
  • Martindale-Hubbell AV Rating
  • Super Lawyers (Top 50 lawyers in Upstate New York)
  • MCBA President’s Award
  • Thurgood Marshall Award
  • MCBA Raymond J. Pauley Award (2003,2010)
  • 2024, 2025 U.S. District Court For the Western District of New York Pro Bono Honor Roll
  • United States District Court, Western District of New York, Pro Bono Award (2025)

Publications

  • Epidemiology and the Law, Juris Publishing, 2024
  • Artificial Intelligence/Superficial Lawyering, ACTL Journal, Fall 2023
  • It Is Long Past Time to Change the Error in Judgment Charge, New York Bar Journal 2019
  • Three Months With Roy Cohn, ACTL Journal, Fall 2018
  • Representing the Decedent – The Wrongful Death Action in New York, The Plaintiff’s Personal Injury Action, NYSBA, (2008, 2013)
  • The Vioxx Saga, Voir Dire Magazine (Winter 2005)
  • Another Medical Malpractice Crisis, Voir Dire Magazine (Fall 2003)

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