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At a Glance
| Founded by | A New York boutique operating for over eight decades (per the firm) |
| Focus | Trust, estate, and fiduciary litigation, with complementary guardianship, employment, and commercial practices (per the firm) |
| Office | 600 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10016 (Manhattan), with a White Plains office |
| Signature results | Firm states involvement in the estate and guardianship litigations of Brooke Astor, Huguette Clark, Cy Twombly, Allan Stone, Tran Dinh Truong, and Sylvan Lawrence (per the firm) |
| Distinctive edge | A pure-play trust and estate litigation boutique that has argued before the New York Appellate Division and Court of Appeals on emerging estate litigation issues (per the firm) |
| Fee model | Not published on the firm’s site |
| Known for | Will contests, contested accountings, fiduciary removal proceedings, and contested guardianships in Surrogate’s Court (per the firm) |
Origin and Background
Greenfield Stein & Senior’s own account of its history skips the usual firm-history recap and goes straight to its case list: the firm states it has been involved in some of the most prominent estate and guardianship disputes New York has seen in the last generation, including those of philanthropist Brooke Astor, copper heiress Huguette Clark, artist Cy Twombly, art dealer Allan Stone, and hotelier Tran Dinh Truong. The firm describes itself as having operated “for over eight decades” from Manhattan, with attorneys who regularly appear in Surrogate’s Court throughout New York State and who have argued before the Appellate Division and Court of Appeals on emerging estate litigation issues. Its offices sit at 600 Third Avenue, a Midtown Manhattan address confirmed against the firm’s own site, with a secondary White Plains location.
What Makes This Firm Structurally Different
Where many New York trusts and estates practices are one department inside a general-service firm, Greenfield Stein & Senior built its identity around a single specialty: contested Surrogate’s Court matters. The firm states its attorneys have been “consistently recognized as leaders in the field” of trust and estate litigation specifically, not estate planning generally. That specialization is paired with a smaller set of complementary practices the firm says grew out of the same client base: guardianships, employment litigation, commercial litigation and transactions, real estate transactions, and art-related disputes and licensing work, reflecting the kind of high-net-worth clients an estate litigation boutique tends to attract.
Practice Areas
- Trust, estate, and fiduciary litigation
- Contested and uncontested guardianships
- Employment law
- Commercial litigation and transactions
- Real estate transactions
- Art transactions and art-related disputes
Track Record
Awesome Attorneys did not identify a published, itemized table of verdicts, settlements, or case outcomes on the firm’s site. The firm instead identifies itself by the names of the estates and litigations it says it has been involved in, several of which (Brooke Astor, Huguette Clark) were widely covered as some of the most significant contested estates in New York history. These are the firm’s own characterizations of its role in those matters; Awesome Attorneys did not independently verify the specific scope of the firm’s involvement in each case. Past results in any matter do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any future matter.
Client Voice
Awesome Attorneys did not identify a set of independently attributed, publicly posted client reviews for this firm as of the research date. A third-party attorney directory profile includes an unattributed peer comment describing litigator Anne Bederka as “one of the best estate litigators” the reviewer knows, offered in the context of the reviewer’s own teaching at a law school estate litigation clinic; because the comment is not a client review and its full sourcing could not be independently confirmed, Awesome Attorneys treats it as a professional peer comment rather than client testimony.
Beyond the Courtroom
Awesome Attorneys did not identify specific published community or pro bono activity for this firm as of the research date.
Recognition
Super Lawyers lists ten Greenfield Stein & Senior attorneys as having been selected to its Super Lawyers or Rising Stars lists, a peer-influenced, research-driven selection process distinct from pay-to-play marketing awards. New York does not maintain a formal board-certification system for trusts and estates litigation comparable to Texas’s TBLS, so Awesome Attorneys does not apply “specialist” language to any attorney at this firm on that basis, notwithstanding the firm’s own description of its practice as a specialty.
New York Legal Backdrop
Will contests in New York proceed through Surrogate’s Court under the Surrogate’s Court Procedure Act, with objections to probate generally governed by SCPA § 1410 and related provisions. The Estates, Powers and Trusts Law sets the substantive rules for will validity (EPTL § 3-2.1) and a surviving spouse’s right of election against an estate (EPTL § 5-1.1-A). Contested guardianship proceedings for incapacitated adults are governed by Mental Hygiene Law Article 81, a distinct statutory scheme from the guardianship-of-minors provisions found in the SCPA. None of this is legal advice; a specific estate or guardianship dispute should be evaluated by a licensed New York attorney based on the actual facts involved.
Awesome Attorneys Assessment
Greenfield Stein & Senior’s clearest differentiator is genuine specialization: it is not a general-practice firm with a trusts and estates department, but a boutique built specifically around contested Surrogate’s Court work, with a client list the firm says has included some of the most closely watched estate disputes in recent New York history. The honest trade-off is that a firm this concentrated in litigation is not typically the right fit for routine, non-contentious estate planning, and Awesome Attorneys could not locate independently attributed client reviews or a published outcomes record to weigh against the firm’s own account of its case history. For an executor, beneficiary, or fiduciary already facing (or anticipating) a contested will, accounting, or guardianship proceeding in New York, a litigation-only boutique with this narrow a focus is a reasonable firm to have on a shortlist; someone who simply needs a will drafted is likely better served elsewhere.
Methodology and Sourcing
This profile was researched from Greenfield Stein & Senior’s own website, including its About, Practice Areas, and Attorneys pages, and from an independent Super Lawyers firm profile confirming attorney selections to that list.
Publisher Disclosure and Independence Notice
Awesome Attorneys is an independent legal directory and editorial publication. This profile was not paid for, commissioned, or reviewed by Greenfield Stein & Senior, LLP prior to publication. Awesome Attorneys does not endorse, recommend, or warrant any profiled firm, and inclusion in this directory is not a paid placement. “Awesome Attorneys” is a brand name only and does not constitute a rating or ranking claim. Facts stated are current only as of this profile’s research date.