Florina Altshiler

Florina Altshiler is a Litigation Partner with Russo & Gould LLP, specializing in labor law, premise liability and medical malpractice defense litigation where she handles matters through jury trial to verdict in the State and Federal Courts across New York State. She also serves as Assigned Counsel for felony level criminal matters in Erie County, NY. She is licensed in NY, NJ and AK.

Ms. Altshiler is also the exclusive Legal Analyst for WKBW ABC News and frequently offers commentary for Court TV. She has been quoted and published throughout the country, including the Miami Herald, Chicago Tribune, the Daily Beast, Buffalo News, the Daily News and BBC. She has appeared on both national and local television broadcasts including Fox News, ABC, Law & Crime and others. She has traveled to offer CLE presentations across the country and frequently presents for Lawline, Clearlaw, NBI, DRI, the Buffalo Claims Association, Defense Trial Lawyers Association, and the Erie Institute of Law, among others. She continues to serve as an instructor at Columbia University in the City of New York, Buffalo State College and Daemen College. Her courses include trial advocacy, introduction to law, legal research and writing, torts, introduction to neuroscience, neuroscience and the law and the law of race, class, politics and power; she was previously an adjunct instructor at St. John’s School of Law in New York City. Her articles have been published in the New York Law Journal and the Buffalo Law Journal, among others.

Prior to relocating to Buffalo, Ms. Altshiler served as a prosecutor for the State of Alaska, Office of the Attorney General, based in Anchorage, where she handled the prosecution of all levels of crime through trial to jury verdict and also served on the sexual assault response team and the homicide response rotation. She successfully prosecuted dozens of cases through verdict, including violent felonies and sexual assaults. In 2013, she received an Alaska State Legislature Citation for her work with the Anchorage High School Mock Trial program. She also continues to volunteer for the Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault.

Ms. Altshiler continues to serve as an arbitrator for the Civil Court of the City of New York where she started in 2009 and she is also a Certified Federal Court Mediator with the Western District of New York. She has been a Harpur Law Council Steering Committee Appointee since 2016. She serves as a Board Member of the Defense Trial Lawyers Association and a State Director for the Western NY Chapter of the Women's Bar Association; she previously served three-year terms as a Board Member for Journeys End Refugee Services. Crisis Services and New York Legal Assistance Group.

Ms. Altshiler’s distinctions include selection as a Top-Rated Civil Litigation Attorney and a Rising Star by Super Lawyers magazine every year since 2017; a perfect 10.0 rating by Avvo; and Above the Law’s Lawline Top 20 Female Faculty in 2016 and 2020.