Northport, NY

Kurt P. Widmaier

Kurt P. Widmaier is a partner with Russo, Karl, Widmaier & Cordano PLLC and has been a member of the firm for over 30 years in different capacities. Mr. Widmaier began his legal career with the firm in 1985 as an intern. Mr. Widmaier focuses his practice in all areas of estate planning, both basic and sophisticated, including wills, trusts, estate and gift taxation issues, business succession planning and asset protection. Kurt also helps individual clients to become Medicaid eligible, including the drafting of Medicaid Qualifying Trusts. Kurt and his staff prepare and file applications on behalf of clients for home care Medicaid as well as chronic long term nursing home Medicaid and related needs. In addition, Kurt regularly practices before the Surrogate’s Court in both Suffolk and Nassau counties. Kurt handles various litigated matters, including complex contested matters, contested accountings, guardianship proceedings and other miscellaneous proceedings in the Surrogate’s Court across New York State. Kurt and his staff also serve as counsel to numerous fiduciaries, including executors carrying out their duties in the probate process, trustees in various lifetime trusts, as well as testamentary trusts and those trustees who are serving beneficiaries with special needs under a Supplemental Needs Trust. Kurt is a member of the New York State Bar Association Trust and Estates Section and Elder Law Section, the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA), Suffolk County Bar Association Trusts and Estates Section, as well as being a member of the Estate Planning Council of Suffolk County. He is former Co-Chairman of the Suffolk County Surrogate’s Court Committee, and regularly serves as a court-appointed Guardian ad Litem to protect the interests of infants and minors, as well as people under a disability. Kurt provides advice to families to help protect their loved ones with special needs which is something that has increased dramatically over the last 30 years. Protecting those who can not protect themselves has been a passion for Kurt and the firm from the outset of his career. Kurt graduated Stony Brook University with honors and received his Law Degree from Touro College, Cum Laude. Kurt was the recipient of several prestigious American Jurisprudence awards throughout his law school career. Kurt has lived on Long Island his entire life and currently resides in East Northport with his wife and three children.

Jonathan O’Neill Gill

A native New Yorker, Jonathan Gill has practiced law in New York since 1988. He began his career as an assistant district attorney in the Bronx, conducting over 50 jury trials with a 96% conviction rate in the Major Offense and Homicide Bureaus. He also served as Deputy Director of Litigation Training. In 1997, he joined The Travelers Insurance Company as a Senior Trial Associate, handling major personal injury and wrongful death cases, and supervised the first in-house, state-wide subrogation team. He also supervised a team of 10 attorneys and two paralegals handling automobile liability litigation and created training programs for new lawyers. In 2004, he co-founded Creedon & Gill P.C. He is a member of the American Bar Association and New York State Bar Association, and admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. Mr. Gill has lectured on various tort negligence issues for Claim Litigation Management.

Charles C. Russo

Charlie Russo is the senior partner of the firm of Russo, Karl, Widmaier & Cordano, PLLC. Charlie is a graduate of the University of Vermont, received a Master’s Degree from C.W. Post in 1974 and his Juris Doctorate from Hofstra Law School in 1978. Following law school, Charlie spent several years as an assistant district attorney prosecuting major felonies in Suffolk County and he continues to be active in the practice of criminal law. Charlie has embraced a lifelong dedication to young people, especially those facing the crisis of addiction. For the past 38 years he has served as both Chairman of the Board of Directors and legal counsel to Hope House Ministries in Port Jefferson which provides family services, counseling and residential facilities for young men, the homeless, and families in need. His roots in this area of service stem from his days at Melville House, a residential home for young men where he lived for six years. He credits that experience, combined with his employment as a social worker at the Nassau County Children's Shelter, as being a significant influence in shaping his sensitivity and commitment to the homeless and youth in crisis. For the past 34 years Charlie has been the founder, fundraiser, and "man in the red suit" for a project known as Christmas Magic, which seeks to enhance the holiday spirit for families in crisis and for children within those families who seek only to experience the magic of Christmas. During the Fall and early Winter each year, Charlie works incessantly, to raise the funds necessary to provide Christmas to thousands of underprivileged kids and their families living in various shelters and programs throughout Suffolk and Nassau Counties. He has touched the lives of so many children by etching in their memory, a positive and loving picture of Christmas despite the problems that plague them and their families during the holidays. Last year Christmas Magic reached over 12,000 deserving children. Charlie is proud to serve as Board Chair for the Long Island Coalition for the Homeless and enjoys the synergy between the Coalition, Hope House, and Christmas Magic which has been created and has helped to enhance the lives of so many. Through his charitable activities, Charlie has developed an area of legal expertise unique to Long Island. He has vast experience in New York State Not-For-Profit Corporate Law- guiding corporations through the legal and bureaucratic maze of complicated financing, which is necessary for providing millions of dollars in revenue to create housing for the disabled and homeless. He is also a Founder and Board Member of the Empire National Bank in Islandia, New York. As a result of his efforts, he has been recognized by numerous community service agencies and most recently was presented with the prestigious New York State Bar Association Root/Stimson Award.

Peter J. Creedon Jr.

Founding partner Peter J. Creedon began his career as a prosecutor for the Major Offense and Homicide Bureaus of the Bronx District Attorney's office. He established Creedon & Associates, a staff counsel office of the Travelers Companies, growing it to 40 attorneys. He served on Travelers' National Technology Advisory committee, National Audit team, and as claim counsel for no-fault fraud initiatives, receiving the General Counsel's Award for Excellence. His caseload included complex cases involving catastrophic injuries and deaths in construction and labor law, premises liability, products liability, motor vehicles and road design, municipal liability, and subrogation and insurance law. At Creedon & Gill P.C., he has also litigated high-profile toxic tort and municipal land use cases, medical device product liability cases, and commercial and business disputes, including unfair competition and trademark infringement. He has taught pretrial litigation as an adjunct professor of law and written and taught accredited CLE courses. He also provides general counsel services to Long Island construction companies.

Richard T. Cordano

Richard T. Cordano graduated from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1995, as a member of Pi Sigma Alpha, and earned a J.D., from Syracuse University College of law in 1998. In 2003, Richard completed professional studies at New York University and was awarded a Certificate in Finance. Richard’s emphasis is in the areas of commercial, business, and employment litigation, as well as corporate transactional work, including mergers and acquisitions. Richard heads the firm’s civil litigation department, and in this capacity, he regularly litigates commercial and business disputes in the state and federal courts. These disputes often involve shareholder’s rights, corporate dissolutions, disloyal employees, restrictive covenants, breaches of contract, intellectual property, and employment discrimination claims. He has successfully represented corporate and individual clients in federal jury trials, appellate practice, arbitrations before the Commercial Division of the American Arbitration Association, as well as matters before the EEOC and the New York State Division of Human Rights. Significant accomplishments have included: the successful litigation of a post-acquisition dispute against a Fortune 500 company; the successful reversal of Section XI’s suspension of a prominent high-school athlete; and the successful representation of a Fort Salonga couple in a federal civil rights action against the Town of Smithtown. Richard also appears frequently in landlord-tenant court on behalf of the firm’s not-for-profit supported housing clients. For the past twenty years he has specialized in litigating the complex legal challenges that these supported housing agencies face in our local courts. Richard’s broad-based litigation experience has served to strengthen the firm’s corporate department as well. The unique combination of significant litigation and corporate transactional experience has proven to be a distinct advantage in steering our clients clear of potential pitfalls. Richard handles a variety of transactional matters, including, corporate governance issues, drafting and negotiating commercial leases, shareholder, partnership, operating, and employment agreements, as well as providing practical advice to the firm’s clientele in the areas of corporate formation, financing, business planning, strategic alliances, and risk management. The firm’s large base of mid-sized companies and not-for-profit corporations have entrusted him with solving their day-to-day legal and business challenges. Richard is also involved in the firm’s mergers and acquisition practice, where he has successfully completed sophisticated business purchases and sales for clients in the health care, construction, manufacturing, retail, restaurant and catering, sports and entertainment, and financial services industries. Significant accomplishments have included completing the complex sale of one of Long Island’s most historic restaurant, hotel, and catering facilities. Richard is admitted to practice law in the New York State courts as well as the United States District Court for the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York.

Robert P. Guido is “Of Counsel” to the firm of Russo Karl Widmaier & Cordano, practicing under Robert P. Guido PLLC. His practice focuses primarily on representing lawyers who are the subject of attorney disciplinary investigations or proceedings, and suspended or disbarred lawyers seeking reinstatement to practice. His services also extend to applicants seeking admission to practice law who require assistance or formal representation during the admission process, and to members of the bar seeking guidance on matters of professional ethics. Mr. Guido’s legal expertise in the areas of attorney discipline, admissions, and professional ethics developed during his 37-year career in public service with the Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department, one of the largest and busiest attorney disciplinary jurisdictions in the United States. His service began 1981 as an Assistant Counsel to the Grievance Committee for the Tenth Judicial District, investigating and prosecuting allegations of professional misconduct filed against attorneys from Nassau and Suffolk Counties. He subsequently rose through the ranks, becoming the Deputy Chief Counsel in 1999, and ultimately the Committee’s Chief Counsel in 2001 upon the recommendation of then-Presiding Justice Lawrence J. Bracken. During his tenure with the Grievance Committee, Mr. Guido handled or supervised over 10,000 grievance investigations and personally conducted more than 100 formal disciplinary hearings, including the noted case of Matter of Cooperman (83 NY2d 465) which he successfully argued before the Court of Appeals (banning non-refundable fee agreements). In 2005, Mr. Guido was appointed as the Second Department’s first Special Counsel for Grievance matters, charged with an array of department-wide responsibilities related to the Court’s attorney disciplinary and admission systems. In announcing this newly created position, then-Presiding Justice A. Gail Prudenti observed, “Bob Guido is uniquely qualified for this position with his extensive background in grievance committee matters and his career-long interest in educating members of the bar regarding ethics, professionalism and grievance issues.” Under Mr. Guido’s leadership, the office of Special Counsel facilitated the development and implementation of several noteworthy initiatives, among them the first department-wide unification of all policies, procedures, and forms governing the Court’s three separate grievance committees, and the creation of a new, mandatory “Orientation to the Profession” program for applicants for admission, designed to offer important guidance on real-world ethical pitfalls facing newly admitted attorneys. In 2015, Mr. Guido was appointed as the Second Department’s first Executive Director of Attorney Matters, combining the position of Executive Director and Counsel to the Court’s Committees on Character & Fitness with his on-going duties as Special Counsel for Grievance Matters. At Character & Fitness, he was the chief legal officer and advisor to the Character Committees, responsible for screening and processing applications for admission to practice law (2000-3000 annually), administering hearings and meetings of the Committee and its Subcommittees, and facilitating hearings on applications for reinstatement referred by the Court. During his career with the Appellate Division, Mr. Guido served by appointment of the Chief Judge of the State of New York as a member of the Commission on Alcohol and Substance Abuse in the Legal Profession (1999), the New York State Lawyer's Assistance Trust (2006-2011), and the New York State Commission on Statewide Attorney Discipline (2015-2016). By designation of the Presiding Justice of the Appellate Division, he served as a member of the Statewide Advisory Committee on Bar Admissions, the Second Department Committee on Admission, Discipline, and Reinstatement of Attorneys, and on the Administrative Board subcommittees charged with drafting new rules governing attorney advertising (2003-2005), the new Rules of Professional Conduct (2008-2009), and the Rules for Attorney Disciplinary Matters (2015-2016). He is a Life Member of the New York Bar Foundation, and has received awards for his service to the New York State, Nassau County, and Suffolk County Bar Associations, where he held various committee and task force positions over the course of three decades. Mr. Guido is a frequent CLE lecturer on lawyer regulatory matters, having participated in over 250 presentations nationwide.

Lauren E. Murray

Lauren E. (Manning) Murray is a partner with Russo Karl Widmaier & Cordano, PLLC. Lauren first joined the firm in 2011 and became a Partner with the firm in 2020. Lauren concentrates in the areas of Estate Planning, Elder Law, Estate Administration, and Estate Litigation. She works with clients of all ages to assist them in planning for their futures and preserving their assets for their families. She also provides compassionate legal advice to grieving clients who serve as Fiduciaries, Executors, Administrators and Trustees of their loved ones’ estates regarding the disposition of estate assets. When conflicts arise between interested parties in an estate, Lauren counsels her clients to negotiate practical resolutions, and if necessary, litigates their disputes. Lauren is also a member of the firm’s Civil Litigation department, litigating a wide array of sophisticated commercial and individual disputes, as well as representing the firm’s not-for-profit supported housing clients in landlord-tenant court. A Dean’s Scholar and Honors Scholarship recipient, Lauren earned her J.D. from Hofstra University School of Law in 2011. She was recognized as one of the top five legal writers in the Class of 2011 and inducted into the National Order of Scribes. In her third year, Lauren served as the Managing Editor of Staff for Volume 39 of the Hofstra Law Review. In 2006, Lauren graduated summa cum laude from Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. A member of Phi Beta Kappa, she earned her B.A. in Behavioral Science, with a minor in Writing. She proudly served as a captain of the Drew Varsity Softball team, despite being a career benchwarmer with a .000 batting average. Lauren is a member of the New York State Bar Association and the Suffolk County Bar Association. A lifetime Long Island resident, she currently lives in Babylon with her husband and their three children.