Biography of Justice Barry Ostrager

photoJustice Barry R. Ostrager received his undergraduate degree from the City College of the City University of New York in 1968 and his J.D. degree from New York University School of Law in 1973.

Justice Ostrager was appointed to the New York Court of Claims by Governor Andrew Cuomo in June, 2015, and served as an Acting New York Supreme Court Justice assigned to the Commercial Division. In June 2017, Governor Cuomo appointed Justice Ostrager to the New York State Supreme Court, and he remains assigned to the Commercial Division. Prior to his appointment, except for a federal judicial clerkship, Justice Ostrager spent his entire pre-judicial career at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, LLP, becoming a partner in 1980 and serving as Chair of the firm’s Litigation Department from 1999-2011. As a front line trial and appellate litigator, Justice Ostrager tried many multi-billion dollar cases to verdict and argued scores of appeals, including two successful arguments before the United States Supreme Court.

Justice Ostrager is the co-author of the Handbook on Insurance Coverage Disputes, 17th Edition (Wolters Kluwer 2015); co-author of Modern Reinsurance Law and Practice, 3d Edition (Thomson Reuters 2014), and a contributing author to Business and Commercial Litigation in Federal Courts (Thomson Reuters).

Justice Ostrager is a member of The City Bar, New York County Lawyers’ Association, New York State Bar Association, American Bar Association, American Law Institute, Federal Bar Council and the International Academy of Trial Lawyers.