Simone Lelchuk, Esq. is a skilled mass tort claims adjudicator, allocator, administrator, and mediator.

Simone has extensive experience in sexual harassment and abuse, insurance, catastrophic personal injury, wrongful death, and employment cases. She prides herself on her trauma informed approach to both her mediation and allocation work.

Simone has been involved in successfully designing the claims process and distribution of settlement funds. She has done a significant amount of this work in the sexual assault and harassment arena. She has experience working with both the sexual misconduct funds set up for the benefit of the victims/survivors and Simone has also worked directly with the victims/survivors themselves. She recognizes the need for extreme sensitivity when handling these types of matters. Simone received her Trauma Informed Certification from the National Center for Equity & Agency. In addition to her settlement fund work, Simone also has a fulsome mediation practice. The matters Simone works on span many areas of the law:  insurance coverage (D&O, E&O, and Representations & Warranties), sexual harassment & assault, sexual discrimination, Title IX, litigation funding, professional liability, antitrust, bankruptcy, and securities and derivatives. She prides herself on her ability to be sensitive, yet firm, ascertain and comprehend legal and factual issues quickly, and manage large, complex ADR processes efficiently and objectively.

In addition to working on her own matters, Simone also collaborates with Judge Daniel Weinstein (ret.) and Jed D. Melnick, Esq., as well as other esteemed neutrals throughout the country, on both mediations and the allocation of settlement funds.

Prior to becoming a neutral, Simone worked in private practice at a large New York City law firm (Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP), where she worked in both litigation and transactional groups.  Before practicing law, Simone was a consultant at KPMG LLP.  Simone’s experience at KPMG allowed her to grow adept at not only understanding complicated processes and detailed data, but also organizing such processes and data cohesively, conducting analysis to define key insights, and presenting findings in a comprehensible manner to ensure buy-in and alignment.  She received her juris doctor from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York City and her Bachelor’s Degree from Ohio University.

 

REPRESENTATIVE SETTLEMENT FUND MATTERS

  • Claims Examiner and Allocator appointed in the TWC Bankruptcy Plan to administer the Sexual Misconduct Claims Fund

  • Claims Examiner and Allocator of the James Square facility (assisted living facility) settlement fund 

  • Deputy claims examiner and allocator in certain clergy and university abuse claims

  • Deputy Special Master in In re UCBH Holdings, Inc. 

  • Deputy Settlement Master in In re Auto Parts Antitrust Litigation

REPRESENTATIVE MEDIATIONS 

  • Antitrust - In re Auto Parts Antitrust Litigation

  • Assault / Harassment Cases - various cases involving victims/survivors and Defendant estates, organizations, high profile individuals, insurance companies, etc. Class Action settlement of various Plaintiffs and the NYAG against Harvey Weinstein and other Defendants, and Weinstein’s related companies, and other Defendants; Mass action of elder abuse claims by residents and residents’ families brought against the parent company of an assisted living facility; the mediation and resolution of multiple issues related to Church abuse cases

  • Bankruptcy / Trustee - The Weinstein Co. Holdings LLC et al.; In re Fresh & Easy, LLC

  • Consumer Class Actions - Kinder, Deborah, et al. vs. Meredith Corporation, et al.

  • Coverage Litigation - extensive experience with D&O, E&O, and Representation & Warranty policies 

  • Litigation Funding Disputes - a dispute about the enforceability of a litigation funding agreement 

  • Securities Class Actions - BP in securities fraud and shareholder derivative litigation arising out of the Deepwater Horizon explosion

  • Title IX Matters - various mediations with educational institutions regarding compliance with Title IX

 

REPRESENTATITVE ARBITRATIONS

  • Various fee allocation arbitrations among derivative plaintiffs

  • Plan of Allocation of a Settlement Fund between Section 10(b) and Section 11 plaintiffs

PUBLICATIONS

BACKGROUND & EDUCATION

  • Trauma Informed Certified by the National Center for Equity & Agency

  • Selected as a Rising Star on the Super Lawyers lists for six years in a row, 2016 - 2021

  • Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP, 2010-2014

  • KPMG LLP, 2005-2007

  • President of the Cardozo Dispute Resolution Society

  • Editor, Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

  • Certificate in Dispute Resolution from Kukin Program for Conflict Resolution at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law

  • Member of The Mediation Clinic at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law

  • J.D., Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, 2010

  • B.B.A., summa cum laude Ohio University, 2005