Robert litigates commercial and residential non-payment and holdover proceedings for commercial and residential landlords and tenants; Housing Part actions including private dwellings, multifamily dwellings, condos, and coops; rent control and rent stabilization cases including coverage, succession, and rent overcharge; loft law coverage cases; deed fraud, fraudulent conveyances, and quiet title actions; property damage cases; and RPAPL § 881 licenses and proceedings. Robert also defends owners against the New York City Department of Buildings and against plaintiffs suing owners for purported violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). Recently, in a matter of first impression, he successfully argued that where the first rent-stabilized tenant in a previously owner-occupied apartment executed the lease after the 2014 amendments to the Rent Stabilization Code (“RSC”), RSC § 2526.1(a)(3)(iii) required the initial legal regulated rent to be set and the rent overcharge determined by averaging the rents for similar apartments in the same building at the time the tenant took possession.

In addition, Robert litigates state criminal matters in the Criminal Courts of the City of New York and the Supreme Court, and argues criminal appeals in the First and Second Departments of the Appellate Division and in the New York Court of Appeals. He litigates federal criminal matters in the Southern District of New York and in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He currently serves as Court-appointed associate counsel to attorneys representing defendants pursuant to the Criminal Justice Act. His criminal motion practice produces results. Recently, he won a rare dismissal of a criminal action on constitutional speedy trial grounds and in a matter of first impression, reduced a federal defendant’s guidelines range and eventual sentence by persuading a district court to exclude the defendant’s Puerto Rican Commonwealth Court conviction from his base offense level calculation because it is neither a federal nor state conviction under USSG § 2K2.1(a).

While primarily a litigator, Robert has conducted real estate transactions for select clients, including transactions involving condos, coops, single- and multi-family homes, and commercial buildings. Recently, he represented the seller in a transaction involving three buildings with 68 units in the East Village. Apart from sales, Robert has also negotiated commercial leases for both landlords and tenants.

He earned a bachelor’s degree and a master's degree in History from the University of Chicago, and a juris doctorate degree from New York Law School. He is admitted to practice law in New York, New Jersey, the Southern District of New York, the Eastern District of New York, the District of New Jersey, and the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.