Who I Am
I am a member of the Colorado, New York and Ohio Bars, and former Litigation Partner in a New York personal injury law firm. I began my legal career practicing law in Cleveland, Ohio, specializing in insurance defense and subrogation litigation. After seven years of practice in the Midwest, I relocated to London, England, where I headed the London Legal Department of the largest Greek ship owner in the world.
Subsequently, I qualified to practice law in the United Kingdom as a Solicitor and thereafter, began working for two well-respected London firms specializing in maritime litigation. After five years in London, I was recruited by a Greek ship owner to join his Legal Department in Piraeus, Greece where I practiced in-house before moving back to New York. Between 1999 and 2018, I joined a New York personal injury firm first as an Associate Attorney, then a Senior Trial Attorney and finally as the Litigation Partner in the firm of Shaevitz Shaevitz & Kotzamanis.
Recognized Excellence
While in New York, I was highly regarded for my career in and out of the courtroom and was often called upon by fellow trial attorneys for advice and to serve as trial counsel on their cases. In fact, in 2007, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, I was selected by my peers as a "Super Lawyer", recognizing me as one of the top 5% of personal injury trial lawyers in the New York metropolitan area. In 2015, 2016, 2017, and again in 2018, I was recognized by the National Association of Distinguished Counsel as being in the top 1% of practicing attorneys in the United States. I consistently reported some of the largest settlements and verdicts while in New York.
Practicing Law Across States
Six years ago, my family permanently moved to Colorado. In this short time, I have already been recognized by The National Trial Lawyers as one of the Top 100 Civil Plaintiff trial attorneys in Colorado.
I have lectured extensively. I authored and presented “The Frye Hearing – A Civil Perspective” at the Queens County Bar Association in October 2009 and “Bunkers on Delivery and Redelivery - Not Such a Technical Breach” for IBC Legal Studies and Services Conference, London, England May 1995.
Our Fees
Through trial, we handle personal injury, nursing home neglect and legal malpractice cases for a fixed contingent fee of 33 1/3%. You will never have to pay us anything unless we make a recovery for you. We will never charge more than 33 1/3% if we decide to take your case. This is not the norm in Colorado, however. Most personal injury law firms, the ones you see advertising on television, charge upwards of 35% to 50% of any recovery, particularly if they have to take a case to trial. We do not gouge our clients and only accept compensation that is fair.
As a general rule, Kotzamanis Injury Law does not accept contingent fee cases with the hopes of a quick settlement and without plans to take the case to trial. We will never shortchange our clients.