Sean Coonerty

Sean is the Managing Partner at Siegel & Coonerty. Sean grew up in West Islip, Long Island, NY. After graduating college at Binghamton University, he was offered a scholarship and attended Brooklyn Law School. Following his second year in Law School he began as a Summer Associate for a large and prominent medical malpractice defense firm, where he was hired as an Associate Attorney directly out of law school. However, after a couple of years defending doctors and hospitals, and witnessing first-hand the injustices suffered by the plaintiffs, Sean abruptly changed his career path. He knew his true calling was to fight for the victims of negligence, not defend the perpetrators.

In February 2001, he began working with Andy at his top-tier, plaintiff's personal injury and medical malpractice firm. By January 2008, Sean became Andy's partner, and together they founded and developed the firm of Siegel & Coonerty, LLP in 2011. The firm was established upon Sean and Andy's less-is-more strategy, meaning being selective, and only taking on those cases where they can truly make a profound difference in the lives of their clients and their families.

This strategy affords the firm the ability to concentrate maximum time and effort into every single case as if it were the only one in the office. Another important founding principle was for Sean and Andy to surround themselves with only the most experienced and professional Associate Attorneys and support staff in their field. In fact, at every year's holiday party since 2011, Sean always toasts that he would wager everything he owns in any contest between Siegel & Coonerty staff and anyone else's. They are truly like family to him.

At Siegel & Coonerty, LLP, Sean represents a broad range of clients in personal injury, medical malpractice and wrongful death cases, including construction/workplace accidents, automobile accidents, slip/trip and fall accidents, as well as any other accidents caused by negligence. He has controlled well over a thousand cases on behalf of the injured from the initial interview through trial.

As a Trial Attorney, he achieved verdicts in the five boroughs of New York City, as well as Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester and Dutchess Counties. Among his most notable trials was in Brooklyn where he represented a worker who fell approximately 60 feet in an elevator shaft. Despite the defendants hiring of five experienced Trial Attorneys to defend the case, six weeks into the trial it settled for $4.6 Million dollars.

Presently, Sean is the Managing Partner of the firm. In addition to running the business and staff, he reviews each and every case at its inception and provides a detailed outline for its handling until resolution. He makes a point of being in his office every single working day, and his door is always open. Clients can even call a direct line straight to his desk because he believes that each client is a person - not just a file number or a dollar sign. Sean has a particular interest and expertise in personally handling all of the firm's construction accident cases. He is especially concerned with advocating on behalf of Spanish-speaking day laborers who are generally forced to do the most dangerous work, with the least safety protection - often because they are undocumented immigrants. As such, Sean is extremely well-versed in the New York State Labor Laws, the New York State Industrial Code, and OSHA. He consistently prevails in obtaining judgments as a matter of law based on his legal writing alone. Although trials are now primarily handled by his partner, Andy, he remains extremely active in resolving cases at pre-trial mediation, where he continues to achieve numerous multi-million-dollar settlements.

Sean has been honored as a Super Lawyer continuously since 2014. A Super Lawyer is an elite honor - only the top 5% of lawyers in the specialty of personal injury and medical malpractice practicing in the State of New York, as selected by one's peers, are selected. He is a member of various other legal organizations, including the New York State Trial Lawyers Association, where he is vocal within the committee on New York State Labor Laws.

Sean fell in love with his favorite court stenographer, Ada Luz, and they soon thereafter married and have two children. Sean and his wife live on Long Island in Garden City, and they are active in various charitable organizations, including The Coalition for Children Against Abuse and Neglect, Circulo de Hispanidad, Team for Kids, and the Children's Medical Fund. They also often provide a foster home for abandoned dogs and cats. Sean remains an avid tennis player and skier, a boater, a coach for his kids and others, and a sports and fitness enthusiast in general.