About
Hunter Shkolnik

Hunter Shkolnik, is a founding partner of Napoli Shkolnik, and head of the Firm’s Trial Practice Group. Hunter’s 35 plus years of litigation experience is broad, and he has handled cases in each of the Firm’s practice areas. Notably, before devoting his practice to the representation of government entities in the national opioid cost recovery litigation, he focused his practice in all aspects of pharmaceutical and environmental litigation, providing him with an invaluable perspective. Hunter has tried bench and jury trials on both the plaintiffs’ and defendants’ sides and has argued before numerous state, federal, and appellate courts throughout the country. He has advocated for the rights of clients harmed by medical malpractice, the opioid epidemic, defective products, accidents, and more. He currently focuses on the trials of significant personal injury cases, primarily in the area of drug, automobile, aviation-related, and heavy truck product liability litigation.

Since 2014, he has been a partner at Napoli Shkolnik PLLC, where he leads the discovery and trial teams of various mass tort pharmaceutical and medical device litigations. He is also active in managing national litigation and plaintiff litigation groups including the American Association of Justice’s Actos Litigation Group.

Mr. Shkolnik is a founding board member and Vice President of the Trial Lawyers of Puerto Rico (TLPR), a trade association bringing together top trial lawyers to share expertise, build partnerships, and to add value to the local Puerto Rico community. He will return as a speaker at Mass Torts Puerto Rico in May 2023.

Mr. Shkolnik is currently serving as a chairman, leader, or court-appointed representative on Plaintiff Steering Committees in various drug and other mass torts.

Early Career

Mr. Shkolnik began his professional legal career while in law school, working as a clerk at a small plaintiffs’ firm in Manhattan where he shadowed a highly regarded trial lawyer. Following the untimely death of his mentor in a plane crash, Mr. Shkolnik accepted a job at Rivkin Radler LLP offered to him by a defense lawyer on a case they had been working on. At Rivkin Radler, Mr. Shkolnik had the unique opportunity to try cases soon after his hiring, which quickly built up his skills as a trial lawyer.

Mr. Shkolnik was subsequently an Associate at Silberstein, Awad & Miklos, P.C., where he represented plaintiffs in significant medical malpractice and product liability actions. He made the transition to mass tort cases as a Partner at Rheingold, Valet, Rheingold, Shkolnik & McCartney LLP, a position he held for sixteen years. He led the firm’s drug and medical device mass tort litigation, serving as a member of many of the leadership committees nationally.

Mr. Shkolnik joined Napoli, Bern, Ripka Shkolnik LLP where he remained for five years prior to becoming a partner at Napoli Shkolnik. He has since become a founding member of NSPR Law Services a Puerto Rico based legal services provider firm. He is admitted to the Bars of New York, New Jersey and Wisconsin, , U.S. District Court – Eastern District of New York, U.S. District Court – Southern District of New York, New Jersey, U.S. District Court – District of New Jersey, U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri; and the United States Supreme Court.

Awards and Honors

Mr. Shkolnik was recognized by Best Lawyers in America® as a Best Lawyer in the areas of Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions – Plaintiffs, and Product Liability – Plaintiffs. For sixteen years and counting, he has been listed with New York Super Lawyers®. He was also included in the Top 10 list of Aviation Trial Lawyers by National Trial Lawyers. He is a Fellow at Litigation Counsel of America and was listed in Marquis Who’s Who for 2018.

Apart from Mr. Shkolnik’s individual accolades, Napoli Shkolnik was just recognized by the U.S. News & World Report’s Best Law Firms in New York for a third consecutive year.

Education

Mr. Shkolnik holds his J.D. from Yeshiva University Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. He attended the University of Massachusetts for his undergraduate studies, where he earned a B.A. in sociology.