WRS Announces New Partners

We are pleased to announce that effective January 1, 2005, William P. Hepner and Stavros E. Sitinas have become partners of the firm.

Bill joined WRS as a trial lawyer in 1998 and has tried and litigated numerous significant automobile, premises and construction accident cases. Bill graduated magna cum laude in 1983 from the State University of New York at Albany, and received his J.D. degree from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where he was Editor-In-Chief of Cardozo's International Law Journal, the Cardozo New Europe Law Review. Bill graduated Cardozo in 1991, after a career which included sales, as well as professional singing. His experience prior to law gives him an added insight into the make-up of juries and those he represents. Bill's calm and unflappable demeanor in court gives him credibility with jurors, and allows him to withstand the rigors of trial without losing focus. He has also been successful over the years in developing novel theories of liability to withstand the defense bar's unrelenting attempts to keep plaintiffs from having their day in court.

In addition to his responsibilities as one of the firm's trial lawyers, Bill is an Arbitrator in Small Claims Court in Manhattan, where he decides disputes between parties who desire an expeditious resolution to their cases and agree to have their matters decided by an arbitrator instead of a judge. Bill is charged with fairly and judiciously resolving these disputes, and his decisions are final.

Stavros joined WRS as a trial lawyer in 2001, focusing on the trial of significant personal injury cases and has obtained sizeable jury verdicts for our clients in some of New York's most challenging venues. He handles a wide variety of cases in the areas of automobile litigation, product liability and construction accidents. After earning an Associates Degree and Marketing Degree from Boston University, Stavros spent the next seven years in professional sales in both the construction and medical industries. This experience has provided Stavros with an ability to be comfortable with anyone, put people at ease and evaluate people quickly, traits which are invaluable in dealing with juries. He graduated from Qunnipiac College School of Law in 1996 and was admitted to practice law in the State of New York in 1997. Stavros also studied at Brooklyn Law School and Fordham University's School of Law. He is admitted to practice in the United States District Courts for the Southern, Eastern and Northern Districts of New York and is an active member of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America and the Eastern Orthodox Lawyers Association.