An intellectually gifted and generous leader with unquestioned integrity, Elliot Samuelson is universally regarded as one of the top attorneys of divorce law in New York and nationally. Indeed, in a profession occupied by thousands of sharp minds, Samuelson stands out, in part because he is a leading author on divorce-law issues - but also because of his longtime influence on other attorneys. He has mentored many of today's leaders of the matrimonial bar and all of them - some are now competitors -- respect him to this day.

He has been an editor of the Family Law Review of the New York State Bar Association since 1976. His "Divorce Law Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide to Matrimonial Practice," was first published in 1988, and it remains an instructive guide to the profession. He is also author of "The Unmarried Couples Legal Survival Guide," published by Carol Publishing in 1997. His textbook, "Matrimonial Motion Practice" can be found on the desk of matrimonial lawyers and judges.

The Brooklyn native says, jokingly, as a young attorney "I was young and foolish" when divorce law, then a relatively staid corner of the law, beckoned. "I wanted to help people deal with real and immediate problems - there was nothing abstract about it," says Samuelson. Always curious and progressive (he uses e-mail liberally, unlike most senior attorneys), Samuelson was at the epicenter of the revolutionary changes in divorce law in the 1970s and 80s, making it a dynamic area of the law.

Today, in his fifth decade of practice, Samuelson practices with his daughter Wendy and respected attorney Richard Hause. Their Garden City office handles scores of complex and challenging cases each year. He has been a resident of Melville, N.Y., for over 40 years.