DIANE PAOLICELLI

A partner at Levy Phillips & Konigsberg, LLP since 1988, Diane Paolicelli is an accomplished trial lawyer specializing in employment law, medical malpractice, complex products liability, toxic torts, civil rights, and personal injury cases.

Diane has achieved substantial verdicts and settlements in catastrophic injury cases. She has handled cases as diverse as the negligent administration of blood products, cancer misdiagnosis, surgical and obstetrical mistakes, and emergency room failures.

She has also obtained substantial recoveries in cases involving scaffold and construction accidents, automobile and railroad collisions, consumer product defects, and premises accidents.

Diane has successfully handled important mass tort litigations for the firm. These include the DES litigation and the Dalkon Shield litigation, which concerned a defective pregnancy drug and a defective birth control device, respectively, that caused innumerable women to suffer infertility and other serious reproductive diseases. Currently, Diane heads LPK’s medical malpractice and catastrophic injury practice with a concentration on cases of cerebral palsy and benzene induced leukemia. She also has a lead role in managing the firm’s pharmaceutical consumer fraud litigation.

Diane has promoted workplace safety issues by prosecuting death and injury cases under the Federal Employer Liability Act and the New York State Labor Law. She has also advanced employee protection under federal, state, and city anti-discrimination legislation by representing workers who have suffered unequal treatment because of race, age, gender, or disability. In September, 2004, Diane achieved a $26.8 million settlement, plus significant injunctive relief, in a high profile class action lawsuit brought by thousands of Latino and African American officers against the New York City Police Department for discrimination.

Diane received her law degree from the New York University School of Law, where she graduated cum laude. While at N.Y.U., she was a member of the New York University Law Review, where she published a piece on disability discrimination. At present, she is a member of several bar associations, including the New York State Trial Lawyers Association and the National Employment Lawyers Association. Her contribution to the latter has included organizing a symposium on sexual harassment issues. She has also lectured on the presentation of expert testimony in employment discrimination cases.

Diane lives on Long Island, New York, with her husband, sons, and her dog.

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