Attorneys

Jody C. Benard, Partner and New York Team Leader, Insurance Defense Practice Group, is a seasoned litigator and trial lawyer with a proven record of achieving excellent results in all types of cases. With extensive experience in litigation and trial, Jody has prosecuted and defended significant matters from both sides of the courtroom.

Before joining the Hickey Smith Dodd team, Jody was the founding and managing partner of a successful defense litigation firm. During this time, in addition to her handling all aspects of litigation, including trial, Jody directed the business operations of the firm and successfully managed a multitude of matters.

Jody has actively practiced in state and federal courts in both New York and New Jersey. With her diverse background, Jody brings a wide range of expertise to the firm including property damage, labor law, premises liability, personal injury, commercial litigation, products liability and insurance coverage. Additionally, Jody has experience in setting and maintaining policy for No Fault claims and litigation.

Jody also serves as Vice President of the Board of Trustees for the New York School for the Deaf.

Christa D’Angelica brings more than ten years of experience representing clients in various stages of civil litigation to Hickey Smith Dodd. She has successfully defended municipalities in Federal US 1983 suits and wrongful death actions, as well as building owners, general contractors, and municipal agencies in New York Labor Law actions.

Before joining Hickey Smith Dodd, Christa worked as an associate for a New York law firm specializing in product liability and toxic tort litigation, premises liability claims, and a diverse array of defamation, employment law, municipal law, corporate law, contract law, environmental law, civil rights law, and tax foreclosure cases in New York and Connecticut state, appellate and federal courts.

Domenick D’Angelica is Senior Counsel with Hickey Smith Dodd LLP and has been practicing law in New York for over thirty years. Having worked in the industry as an in-house counsel, law firm litigator and government, Domenick brings a wealth of knowledge and understanding to Hickey Smith.

Domenick has extensive experience defending personal injury lawsuits involving both personal and commercial lines, and also has experience in the areas of medical and professional malpractice. He has represented a wide range of business entities, including commercial property owners, property management groups, general and subcontractors in the construction industry, hospitals, manufacturers, and restaurants and bars, as well as individual property owners and drivers.

Ann DelCollo is the Managing Attorney for the Insurance Defense Practice Group of Hickey Smith Dodd. In her role as Managing Attorney, Ann is responsible for hiring, assigning cases and monitoring caseloads, and monitoring the individual performance of each attorney. Ann also sets strategic performance goals for the Practice Group that are designed to promote professional growth and job satisfaction for the attorneys while at the same time contributing to the growth and success of Hickey Smith Dodd LLP.

Ann is an insurance defense industry veteran. She has devoted her career to defending personal injury lawsuits in Philadelphia, and its surrounding counties. For the better part of the last 25 years, Ann has defended insurers as either an in-house counsel for two of the largest carriers in the county or in the law firm setting. Having worked in the industry as both an in-house counsel and law firm litigator, she brings a grounded and well-balanced understanding to the practice.

Ann has appeared in more than 500 trials or arbitrations on behalf of her insurance industry clients. She has extensive experience defending personal injury lawsuits involving both personal and commercial lines. Ann also has significant experience in the areas of business litigation, employee theft, class-action asbestos litigation and criminal defense.

Ann began her career in Philadelphia as an insurance defense attorney, defending medical malpractice, personal injury and asbestos lawsuits. From there she served as trial counsel for Allstate Insurance Company, and later, she served as senior trial counsel for Nationwide Insurance Company.

As Hickey Smith Dodd’s Legal Operations Partner, Christian Dodd is responsible for the design, development, implementation and execution of the firm’s unique legal services delivery model. He oversees the development, testing and maintenance of the firm’s proprietary legal workflows, checklists, and automated document assembly templates. He also oversees the identification, collection and analysis of matter-specific data collected throughout the lifecycle of each firm matter. This data is utilized for continuous process improvement and to provide actionable business insight to clients and insurance carriers.

Prior to joining Hickey Smith Dodd, Christian practiced law in the large law firm environment, most recently as a Partner with Akerman LLP, and prior to that with Winston & Strawn. His practice is focused on complex commercial and business litigation, business and consumer torts, intellectual property matters, and electronic discovery and information governance issues. Christian’s experience covers a broad spectrum ranging from simple contract and B2B disputes to consolidated multi-district litigation and bet-the-company litigation. He has extensive experience managing the electronic discovery lifecycle in the context of both small- and large-scale litigation and government investigations. Christian draws on this experience to devise strategies and legal workflow processes to improve efficiencies and reduce the costs of litigation for clients and carriers.

Barry A. Dubinsky is a seasoned litigator and trial lawyer with more than three decades of experience in a variety of areas including construction liability, negligent security, premises liability, trucking, and general liability matters.  Over the course of his career, Barry has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in matters involving extensive personal injuries and wrongful death.  He has acted as first-chair trial counsel in approximately forty jury trials, which include both state and federal cases. Through this experience, Barry has honed his skills of successfully navigating cases and developed the knowledge necessary to reach favorable resolutions.

Barry is a certified instructor of insurance education in the State of Florida and has provided instruction to thousands of claims professionals on a variety of topics. In addition, Barry is a mentor with the Taking Stock of Children program in Florida, which is a non-profit organization helping low-income youth escape the cycle of poverty through education.

Korri Abrams Frampton serves as Senior Counsel for Hickey Smith Dodd and brings over twenty years of legal experience to the firm. Skilled in torts, arbitration, trial practice, and legal writing, she also has substantial experience in all aspects of defense litigation. Korri received her Juris Doctorate from Syracuse University, graduating Magna Cum Laude, and served as the editor of the Survey of New York Law for the Syracuse Law Review. Prior to attending law school, Korri was a New York State, Licensed Insurance Broker, (Property & Casualty and Life, Accident & Health), which equips her with the unique ability to combine legal expertise with extensive knowledge of the insurance industry and regulations, and provide a broad business perspective on a myriad of issues.

Mark Grodberg has been a commercial defense litigator for over 17 years.  Mark represents defendants in matters concerning premises liability, motor vehicle, general negligence and New York State Labor Law actions. He handles every aspect of the litigation process, including answering the summons and complaint, organizing and implementing the discovery process, investigation, and depositions, and coordinating medical examinations.

Given his experience, Mark knows how to get to the crux of the matter quickly and works to towards the efficient and prompt resolution of the case through motion practice or settlement. When a matter cannot be resolved amicably, Mark will not hesitate to take the matter to trial where he enjoys a considerable amount of success.

Mark has served as the primary trial attorney or outside trial attorney for a number of insurance defense firms located in New York.

Margaret M. Henneman is a seasoned litigator and trial attorney who brings decades of experience to Hickey Smith Dodd in all facets of tort litigation, including the areas of general liability, auto liability and premises liability. Margaret has been responsible for all aspects of civil litigation, including jury trials, appeals, arbitrations and settlement negotiations. Over the course of her carrier, Margaret has appeared in more than 250 trials, arbitrations and mediations on behalf of her clients.

Prior to joining the Hickey Smith Dodd team, Margaret served as senior trial counsel for American Family Insurance Company. Margaret is experienced in directing and supervising litigation strategy, evaluating files, and providing legal advice and guidance. Additionally, Margaret is also a certified mediator.

As Hickey Smith Dodd’s Managing Partner, David Hickey is responsible for monitoring and evaluating the design and implementation of the firm’s established processes, procedures, protocols, and workflows to drive continuous firm improvement. David has leveraged technology to design and implement process-based solutions to create efficiencies and reduce both systematic and assystematic risks. David has successfully managed complex legal matters in the US, South East Asia, South Asia and the UK for 25 years. Prior to joining Hickey Smith Dodd, David was an equity partner with Winston & Strawn, LLP, a litigator with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, a prosecutor with the United States Air Force and a Special Assistant United States Attorney. He has first chair trial experience and has advised numerous clients in connection with “bet the company” and other crisis related situations. He has represented clients across a variety of industries.

Kalliopi P. Kousis is a Senior Counsel with Hickey Smith Dodd LLP, and has been practicing law for eighteen years. Her practice has been focused on various areas of construction, insurance and business related matters and litigation. Kalliopi has successfully led several complex, multiparty construction defect (construction accident), general and transportation claims on behalf of insurance carriers, transportation companies and corporations in state and federal courts in New Jersey and New York.

Through her wide-ranging experience, Kalliopi has developed an expertise in crafting litigation strategies, and advising clients of the potential risks and possible outcomes for each course of action. Kalliopi provides a step-by-step approach and possible alternatives, helping clients determine the best path to achieve their goal and successful outcome.

Anna brings nearly a decade of business and legal experience to the firm, including title insurance defense, civil litigation, foreclosure defense, contract disputes, probate, trusts and estate planning, real estate litigation, and family law. In addition to assisting with the representation of the firm’s clients, Anna is instrumental in the development and testing of templates and checklists for pleadings, motions, discovery and other legal documents.

Prior to joining Hickey Smith Dodd, Anna held the position of AVP/Claims Counsel for Fidelity National Financial where she managed the claims administration process from the initial notification through litigation and resolution, including formulating litigation strategies and managing outside counsel. Prior to joining Fidelity, Anna worked in private practice, representing individuals and organizations in all aspects of litigation in numerous substantive areas of law. In addition to her legal experience, Anna has also worked in the IT industry as a project manager for a global software implementation project where she acted as a liaison between the software development team and the security/legal department.

Duncan S. Lemmon joins Hickey Smith Dodd with a breadth of knowledge and experience from representing both Plaintiffs and Defendants for over twenty-five years in both state and federal courts. As a trial attorney, he has multiple verdicts across the country. He handles commercial disputes, complex construction defect matters, insurance defense matters, personal injury, premises liability, toxic tort defense, landlord/tenant disputes and the defense of professional liability cases.

Prior to joining Hickey Smith Dodd, Duncan’s work has ranged from insurance defense work for toxic tort, construction, professional liability and landlord/tenant work to representation of Plaintiffs in personal injury matters. With this wide range of experience and knowledge, Duncan is able to better evaluate cases effectively for his clients.

Vincent D. Monzo is a member of the firm’s insurance defense group and litigates matter throughout New Jersey and Pennsylvania with almost 20 years of litigation experience. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Monzo worked for several firms located in and around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He has been involved in litigating hundreds of cases involving premises liability, commercial trucking accidents, commercial collections, products liability, medical malpractice, construction defect, and insurance coverage matters.

Natalie is a Florida Supreme Court Certified Circuit Civil Mediator and Florida Qualified Arbitrator. She has practiced throughout the state of Florida in civil litigation matters arising from premises liability, trucking transportation, property damage, automobile negligence, and products liability.

Before joining Hickey Smith Dodd, Natalie served as an attorney for two Florida-based insurance defense law firms where she handled matters in the areas of auto negligence, wrongful death, nursing home litigation, resorts and leisure liability, retail liability, premises liability, products liability, ADA claims, governmental liability/sovereign immunity, premises and automobile insurance defense, and property damage.

During law school, Natalie interned in-house with Minor League baseball headquartered in St. Petersburg, FL, worked for well-known tv personality Judge Judy, and clerked for a judge in the Sixth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida.

Justin Patak is an experienced litigator whose practice is focused on insurance defense claims predicated upon personal injuries and property damage, including general liability, premises liability, automobile accidents, food poisoning, dog bites, cycling accidents, construction defects, and first party homeowner’s claims. Justin began his legal career as an Assistant State Attorney for the 20th Judicial Circuit in Collier County, Florida, where he successfully prosecuted numerous jury trials. Immediately following his career as a prosecutor, Justin practiced federal compliance defense before turning to insurance defense.

Prior to becoming an attorney, Justin had a successful career in enterprise sales and strategic sales management. Justin’s prior career included work on Wall Street and Madison Ave. in New York City. Justin is licensed to practice law in the State of Florida as well as all three US District Courts in Florida.

Justin earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Flagler College, focused on Business Administration, and his Juris Doctorate from Ave Maria School of Law. Justin is a Native Floridian born and raised in Fort Myers. Justin currently lives in Wellington, Florida with his wife and their toddler son. Justin and his wife are very active people who love running, cycling, kayaking, and generally being on the water. Justin is also a diehard Miami Dolphins fan.

Jill L. Peel has fifteen years of experience litigating and trying cases. Her experience includes cases involving general liability, premises liability, dog bite/attack, automobile liability, including personal injury protection (PIP) claims, and property damage. Through the course of her career, she has sat first-chair during dozens of jury trials and has managed the leadership of attorney teams.

Prior to joining Hickey Smith Dodd, Jill worked both as outside defense counsel in the law firm setting and as staff counsel for large insurance companies including Kemper Insurance Company, Liberty Mutual, GEICO and Allstate Insurance Company.

Jill also has served on discussion panels that have presented at several Continuing Legal Education courses involving insurance defense trial strategy.

Timothy J. Pike has been a commercial and insurance defense litigator for over 30 years. Tim has represented clients in the defense of personal injury, property damage and declaratory relief cases through all aspects of litigation, including through mediation, trial and appeals.

During his career, Tim has been lead counsel for over one hundred cases in which he has represented the client through verdict by trial. Timothy has represented insurance carriers, construction companies, manufacturers, distributors, property owners, general contractors, engineering companies, retail stores and grocery stores.

Tim also has experience acting as both a mediator and arbitrator in several cases.

Joel Ray brings more than 20 years of experience in insurance defense and complex commercial litigation to the clients of Hickey Smith Dodd, including the areas of premises liability defense, personal injury defense, and medical malpractice.

Having worked for both small and mid-sized defense firms as well as in roles such as a small claims court arbitrator, Joe provides knowledge and expertise in a wide range of practice areas. As in-house counsel for a New York City land developer, Joel practiced law in the areas of landlord-tenant law, commercial litigation, hotel violations, building trademarks, patents and appeals, trademark prosecution and litigation, and evictions.

Daniel has over 20 years of state and federal court experience representing defendants, plaintiffs and insurance carriers through litigation and trial. His civil practice includes defending clients against claims of wrongful death, general liability, premises liability, bad faith, construction defect, toxic torts, elder abuse, real property, quiet title actions, malicious prosecution, declaratory relief actions and insurance coverage disputes. In addition to his California practice, Daniel has also litigated cases in New Hampshire and Florida.

Prior to joining Hickey Smith Dodd, Daniel litigated for a large AV-rated law firm in Ventura County, California focusing on defending human service providers and non-profit entities to verdict in wrongful death, products liability, premises liability and general negligence actions.

Additionally, Daniel’s insurance coverage practice extends to counseling large insurance carriers in several jurisdictions concerning a variety of issues.

Damian M. Sammons serves as Senior Counsel for Hickey Smith Dodd LLP. His practice focuses on toxic torts, including asbestos and talc defense litigation, product liability, construction design defects, and commercial and general liability matters. He also works on behalf of charter schools throughout Pennsylvania.

Damian began his career as an Assistant District Attorney in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office where he handled cases from inception to verdict in various divisions of the office. Following his career as a prosecutor, Damian worked as a criminal defense attorney practicing in the state and federal courts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, cross-examining witnesses and experts and winning multiple verdicts on behalf of clients in both trial and appellate courts.

Prior to joining Hickey Smith Dodd, Damian worked at a regional law firm in the Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York tri-state area where, in addition to general liability matters, his practice focused on the defense of manufacturers and suppliers of various products alleged to have contained asbestos.

One of Damian’s key strengths is his ability to create visual productions for presentation to clients and today’s media-focused jurors. His use of technology to visually express his client’s defense during trial has impacted juries who ultimately found in favor of his clients.

Damian achieved his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin in Plan II Honors-English and his Juris Doctor from Rutgers Law School. He worked as the Managing Notes and Comments Editor for the Rutgers Race and the Law Review and as a teaching assistant for appellate advocacy.

In addition to his legal work, Damian is an Admissions Liaison Officer for the United States Air Force Academy, a Shriner and a Past Master and Representative to the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania Free and Accepted Masons. In his spare time, he is also a student of the Japanese art of Kendo.

Scott D. Zonder has been practicing law for more than 30 years. He has served as a prosecutor, criminal defense attorney and civil litigation trial attorney. He has tried more than 70 cases to verdict in trial courts. For the past 25 years, Scott’s practice has focused on civil litigation, primarily in insurance defense.

Scott previously worked at the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office prosecuting felonies and misdemeanors. Afterwards, he went into private practice at a mid-sized firm, representing law enforcement in laws of wrongful death, excessive use of force and false arrest, along with defending against fraudulent automobile accident claims. For the past 25 years, Scott’s practice has focused on civil litigation and trial practice. In this capacity, he has defended clients against claims of general liability, premises liability, assault and battery, trucking accidents, personal and commercial auto liability, construction liability, negligence, class action and elder abuse and wrongful death.