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Syracuse

315.422.7111
315.471.2623 (fax)
dekornfeld@bklawyers.com
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Daniel Kornfeld provides advice to clients on a broad range of employee benefits and labor law issues.

Daniel represents labor organizations in collective bargaining negotiations, arbitrations, and proceedings before administrative agencies as well as federal and state courts.

In connection with the representation of large and small multiemployer plans, Daniel advises on plan design, funding, reporting, disclosure, and PBGC related matters, including withdrawal liability. His practice also includes litigating fiduciary and benefit related issues.

Daniel’s wife is a professor at Syracuse College of Law, and they are the proud parents of two daughters.

Daniel E. Kornfeld
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Areas Of PracticeEducation
  • Master of Laws with distinction, 2001 Georgetown University Law School Washington, D.C.
  • Juris Doctor with honors, 1998 George Washington University Law School, Washington, D.C.
  • Bachelor of Science in Industrial and Labor Relations with honors, 1995, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
    • Winner of the Saul Wallen Prize, McKersie Scholarship, and UAW Labor History Award
  • Breitshneider Scholarship to Pembroke College, 1993, Oxford University, Oxford, England
Bar & Court Admissions
  • United States Supreme Court (2003)
  • United States District Court for the Northern District of New York (2004)
  • United States District Court for the Western District of New York (2004)
  • United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (2017)
  • United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (2017
  • New York State Courts (2004)
  • United States District Court for Maryland (1999)
  • Maryland State Courts (1998)
  • United States District Court for the District of Columbia (1999)
  • Courts of the District of Columbia (1999)
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (2007)
Significant Representations
  • Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Local 2 v. Moulton Masonry & Construction, LLC, 779 F.3d 182 (2d Cir. 2015), enforced multiemployer plan’s claims in defining personal liability for corporate officer related to breaches of fiduciary duties to deliver contributions.
  • Spencer v. I.B.E.W. Local 1249 Insurance Fund, Civil Action No.: 14-cv-00160 (W.D.N.Y. 2014), defended multiemployer health plan in claim from participant related to proper interpretation of the plan.
  • 1199 SEIU Regional Pension Fund v. Eastern Niagara Hospital, Inc., Civil Action No.: 13-cv-00323 (W.D.N.Y. 2013), enforced multiemployer pension fund’s claims for injunction to compel an audit of employer’s books and records.
  • I.B.E.W. Local 910 Funds v. Grayco Electric, 2013 U.S. DIST LEXIS 16396 (N.D.N.Y. 2013), obtained judgment to collect employee benefit plans’ contributions owed pursuant to collective bargaining agreement.
  • Local Union No. 97, I.B.E.W. v. NRG Energy, Inc., 46 E.B.C. (BNA) 2538 (N.D.N.Y. May 8, 2009), enforced an arbitration award related to pension benefits despite bankruptcy proceedings commenced while the grievance was pending.
  • Harris v. Finch, Pruyn & Co., 44 E.B.C. (BNA) 2206 (N.D.N.Y. August 26, 2008), represented strikers in dispute about employer misrepresentation of benefits available from a defined contribution 401(k) plan.
  • I.B.E.W. Local No. 241 Pen. Plan v. First Allmerica Finan., 354 F. Supp. 2d 203 (N.D.N.Y. 2005), enforced multiemployer pension plan’s claim against actuaries that failed to follow plan terms in calculating benefits.
  • In re GDR Enterprises of Oswego, Inc., Case No. 10-32738-5 (Bankr. N.D.N.Y. 2012), represented multiemployer pension plan in bankruptcy adversary proceeding related to dispute about the characterization of assets available to satisfy over a million dollars in withdrawal liability.
  • Lakeside Nursing Home, Inc., Case No. 06-30071-5 (Bankr. N.D.N.Y. 2010), enforced multiemployer pension fund’s claim for administrative expense claim related to over a million dollars in withdrawal liability.
  • DPI Secuprint, 362 N.L.R.B. No. 172 (August 20, 2015), defended a union in representation case involving an appropriate bargaining unit to refute an employer’s objections.
  • Empire State Weeklies, Inc., 354 N.L.R.B. No. 91 (October 5, 2009), represented union in unfair labor practice case involving remedies for the unlawful termination of a press operator during an organizing campaign.
  • Panama Canal Commission and MEBA, District No. 1, 56 F.L.R.A. No. 67 (June 22, 2000), enforced union’s arbitration award concerning selection and appraisal procedures.
  • In re Williams Arbitration Award, Index No. 2008-15400 (Monroe County Sup. Ct. 2009), enforced union’s arbitration award reinstating grievant despite allegations of threats to co-workers.
  • Symphony Syracuse, Case Nos. 575228 through 575232 (N.Y.S.U.I. Appeal Board September 3, 2014), defended musicians and union in unemployment insurance cases related to concerts performed until the successor to bankrupt symphony employer established.
Publications
  • Author, Arbitration under ERISA, Georgetown University Law School, Master of Law’s Thesis (2001)
  • Author, De-Unionization’s Effect on Income Inequality in 1980s, Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Senior Honor’s Thesis (1995)
Affiliations
  • American Bar Association
  • New York State Bar Association
  • Onondaga County Bar Association
  • A.F.L.-C.I.O. Lawyer’s Coordinating Committee