Mr. Van De Water has held several high-profile positions during his career. He served as an Assistant Attorney General for the New York State Civil Rights Bureau, and as Assistant Corporation Counsel for The City of New York Special Federal Litigation Unit.
Christopher L. Van De Water is Of Counsel to L’Abbate, Balkan, Colavita & Contini, LLP, where he practices in the firm’s General Liability, and Labor & Employment Services Groups. Mr. Van De Water specializes in the area of professional liability defense, concentrating on attorney malpractice claims. He represents attorneys and law firms which have been sued for legal malpractice in New York's State and Federal Trial Courts, and Appellate Courts. Mr. Van De Water also has a strong background in Labor and Employment matters on behalf of both Plaintiffs and Defendants. He has litigated large-scale wage and hour class actions, multi-plaintiff sexual harassment cases, and all manner of discrimination cases. He has appeared and conducted hearings before the EEOC, the NLRB, and the NYSDHR. Mr. Van De Water was integral in getting a multi-million dollar class action certified, which later settled for $14 million against a national corporation.
Mr. Van De Water brings with him a solid foundation of litigation skills and an extensive legal background, having served as lead counsel to both public and private law firms throughout Long Island and New York City. His career of more than 20 years spans a multitude of legal arenas, proactively representing clients in litigation, alternative dispute resolution, and negotiation. Mr. Van De Water’s broad knowledge includes employment-based litigation and disputes, civil rights, labor and business, pre-litigation dispute resolution, sexual harassment, discrimination, retaliation, and professional contracts.
Notably, Mr. Van De Water has held several high-profile positions during his career. He served as Assistant Attorney General for the New York State Office of the Attorney General; Civil Rights Bureau, assigned to the Division of State Counsel; Litigation Bureau; Law Enforcement Department. Mr. Van De Water also served as Assistant Corporation Counsel for The City of New York Law Department; Special Federal Litigation Unit.
Prior to his legal career, Mr. Van De Water pursued a dual degree of Economics and Business Management at Cornell University, where he was named to the Dean’s List, and was an avid member of the Speech & Debate Team, Crew Team, and Phi Sigma Kappa. Mr. Van De Water then went on to obtain his Juris Doctorate, Cum Laude, from the School of Law at Hofstra University. While at Hofstra, he concentrated his studies in Labor Law, and acted as Editor of Legal Research & Writing for the university’s prestigious Labor Law Journal.
Mr. Van De Water holds an impressive track record of never having lost a defense case at trial in any court and has successfully settled hundreds of matters. His accomplishments have been featured in newspapers, legal journals, and other media sources, including the Associated Press, New York Post, New York Daily News, Law 360, and the New York Law Journal.
Mr. Van De Water is admitted to practice before the courts of the State of New York, and the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. Mr. Van De Water has been practicing in New York courts since 1997.
