New York – Some say he’s the equivalent of a modern day Robin Hood who serves as the voice for restaurant workers, while others call him the “scourge of the industry,”—either way, everyone in New York City’s restaurant community knows the name of attorney Maimon Kirschenbaum.
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NY Magazine GRUBSTREET.com Blog (http://grb.st/19ao7AI) reports that Kirschenbaum, 34, has filed between 100 and 200 lawsuits against famous chefs and New York CIty restaurants since 2006 on behalf of workers, netting over $40M in payouts in the process.
By his own admission, Kirschenbaum says that “timing” has played a key role in his success, noting that the rise of the celebrity chef on channels like the Food Network has, by extension, provided high profile media coverage of his cases, thus increasing the likelihood that defendants will look to “settle.”
Kirschenbaum notes that another “key” to his success is that when a “potential” plaintiff approaches him with a grievance his team files a “class action” suit, which allows other current or former workers to join the suit, and empowers the suit against the legal teams of high-profile chefs and restaurants.
Some, like Clark Wolf, a hospitality consultant with over 30 years in the industry, say Kirschenbaum’s seemingly endless stream of lawsuits serve as a “wake-up call” to the industry, while others, like Carolyn Richmond, a NYC attorney who has represented some of Kirschenbaum’s defendants, call his practice “a scam.”
What he is doing is no worse than the profession of liar. They broke the law, took advantage of workers and he gets involved. Do you think your Medical Doctor would see you without getting paid? Do you imagine all the OT, PTs and special ed of our generation would work for free?
There are some people that do chesed and the rest work for income, no crime.
Kol haKovod to those that work for free, of course!
I guess “Maimon” is a fitting name for him.
He should put his talent to good use …Like taking on the Dictatorship of the City of NY.
Being that we are all aware of the secret that v.i.n. is run by lubavitch & therefore never has negative stories about any group members, we can assume that there is a personal reason to run this story.
The defendants’ lawyers say he’s a scam. Can you find anyone more objective? He is doing G-d’s work, kol hakavod. If the lawsuits were without merit, they wouldn’t go forward. Nothing more distasteful (pun intended) for big restaurants to claim that they are being persecuted by their low-wage workers.
some should tell Carolyn Richmond that if not for this Kirschenbaum guy he would be out of a job
can some please explain to me why when I spend $150 on a meal for 2 the waiter still needs 15% tip – shouldn’t he be getting paid a fair share?
Let’s get real! He is a lawyer! He is doing typical lawyer work. His job is to take advantage of every legal option available to his client. Many regulations are ludicrous. But if it’s the law, a lawyer will take advantage of it.
Nothing worse in a society than bored lawyers.
Yikes. If you try hard enough, you can find a lawsuit about anything. It’s impossible to do business normally with all these out of work lawyers looking for something to do.
It’s time to put a higher tax on law school and start taxing lawyers to dissuade people from joining the ranks of these scam artists.
Lawyers are evil!
How much % does he profit from the settlements and how much do his clients (victims) get in compensation? A lot of lawyers will sound like they’re defending the exploited working class, but are in it more to profit themselves from the situation. Interview his clients to see if they’re happy with the payments they receive after his legal fees.
For balance, it should be noted how many newspaper articles there have been about the oppressive practices of some restaurant owners in regard to their workers such as pre-empting tip money, etc. Someone does need to defend them. Are they unionized? I would guess not.
Same thing frum lawyer Henry Juroviesky does in Toronto. Lawyers end up with the lion share of the money. Judges in Canada have ripped him and a number of professional firms despise him, including his former employer KPMG, who he sued.