Sanford J. ("Sandy") Schlesinger is a founding partner of the law firm of Schlesinger Gannon & Lazetera LLP, and chair of its Wills & Estates Department and Family Business Group. Mr. Schlesinger is a nationally recognized expert in the areas of estate and tax planning; estate administration; family-owned business planning; charitable planning and all related areas. He also handles all aspects of contested and litigated estate and trust matters.

Mr. Schlesinger is a fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and its immediate past Downstate New York Chair and a former member of its Charitable Planning and Exempt Organizations Committee. His other memberships include the Editorial Board of the New York State Bar Journal (Emeritus in 2006), Board of Directors of the New York State Bar Foundation, National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, International Academy of Estate and Trust Law (Academician), Estate Planning Advisory Committee of the Practicing Law Institute, and Financial and Estate Planning Advisory Board of the Commerce Clearing House (CCH). He is a former chair of the New York State Bar Associations' Trusts and Estates Law Section, the Advisory Board of the New York University Institute on Federal Taxation, and a member of The American Bar Association's Probate and Trust Committee - Estate Planning and Drafting: Charitable Giving. He is also a former Adjunct Professor of Law at New York Law School, where he taught estate and gift taxation, an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Miami Law School and a former Adjunct faculty member at Columbia University School of Law.

Mr. Schlesinger received a B.S. (with honors) in 1963 from Columbia University and a J.D. in 1966 from Fordham University School of Law. In addition to being a frequent lecturer, Mr. Schlesinger has authored three books and numerous publications on trusts, estates, taxation, closely held business and family succession planning, charitable giving and related matters. He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America, Who's Who in America, and Who's Who in the World "The New York Area's Best Lawyers, " New York Magazine and New York Times (through 2009) and "The Top 100 New York Super Lawyers," New York Times (July 18, 2006).