Charles J. Rappaport

Charles J. Rappaport, founded what has grown to become RGG&L in 1969.  Chuck has been practicing law since 1964, the year he was admitted to the New York State Bar. "I have tried hundreds of cases in my career, and I remember every one of them," he says. "Law schools teach students not to become emotionally involved with their clients. It is a lesson I never learned!"  He remembers the many accident and malpractice victims he has represented over the years.  “It makes me so proud that they remember me.  The holiday cards, birth and wedding announcements, and phone calls warm my heart.  These wonderful people have become my extended family”

A lifelong New Yorker, born in Brooklyn and raised in the Bronx, who moved on to Queens, and finally Manhattan, Chuck graduated from New York University in 1960 and the Fordham University School of Law in 1963.  He has practiced in many State and Federal jurisdictions around the country.  He is admitted to practice in New York State and before the United States Circuit Court for the Second Circuit, the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. He has tried cases in many State and Federal jurisdictions including courts in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland and Florida.  He has won many million and multi-million dollar verdicts, awards and settlements for his clients.

Professional legal organizations often tap him to lecture in areas of his particular expertise, including jury selection, making closing arguments, taking depositions, and examining expert witnesses. He is a member of the Suffolk County and New York State Bar Associations; the American Association for Justice; the New York Academy of Trial Lawyers; the Nassau/Suffolk Trial Lawyers Association; and the New York State Trial Lawyers Association, where he has served as a Director for more than twenty-five years. In 2006, Chuck received the New York State Trial Lawyers Association's Award of Honor for Civil Justice.

Active in many charities, Chuck is an officer and trustee of Daytop Village, our Country's oldest and largest drug rehabilitation organization where he was honored several times for his dedication to helping troubled adolescents and adults. He was the honoree of the Association For Adults and Children with Learning Disabilities where he has played an active role since 1968. He has adopted as his own the words of Abraham Lincoln, who said, "we never stand so tall as when we stoop to help a child".

Chuck and his lovely wife Barbara divide their time between Manhattan, Easthampton and Florida. They have a warm spot in their hearts for Long Island where they raised their four children. Barbara and Chuck share a passion for skiing and golf, books and fine food, and, most of all, their ten grandchildren.