Peter Polchinski

Pete Polchinski is a Partner in MKCI’s New York City office. He concentrates his practice on general and product liability, environmental, toxic tort, asbestos, talc, aviation, transportation, commercial law, and professional liability cases. He has won more than 100 jury trials, tried cases in several states, conducted hundreds of expert depositions, and negotiated numerous multi-million dollar global settlements. He has previously served as national trial and coordinating counsel for a brake company in asbestos litigation.

In addition to his trial experience, Pete is actively involved in the training of the firm’s young lawyers, especially those who want to work in the courts.

Pete has created 12 accredited CLE courses, and he is the author of two books, The Cross-Examination Edge and Elements of Trial Practice (and 2d Edition). These trial handbooks are in the libraries of more than 140 law schools, colleges and courthouses in the USA and throughout the world (WorldCat). He has taught in many NITA and related programs, including the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office trial advocacy program and the Asian American Bar Association of New York trial program, and for seven years he was the chief instructor of Hofstra Law School’s Summer Trial Intensive. He has also taught a program on ethics for administrative law judges.

Since the 1990’s Pete has been AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell, and he is a member of Super Lawyers and Best Lawyers in America.

In addition to his work with MKCI, Pete presents live and Zoom courses on trial practice, public speaking, and persuasion, and he enjoys boxing and martial arts training, the outdoors, and family road trips to small towns across America.

Pete was an assistant district attorney in the Manhattan D.A.’s office in the 1980’s, where he tried homicide and other major felony cases. He has worked at several other law firms, and for 13 years he had a solo practice on Wall Street, where he tried cases for carriers, corporations and public authorities. He also represented the families of the pilots in the Avianca Air Disaster trial.

Pete obtained his Juris Doctor degree from Fordham University School of Law, where he was the Managing Editor of the Moot Court Board and a member of the Fordham All-Star Basketball Team, and has an LL.M. from the New York University School of Law in Trade Regulation. He obtained an A.A. from Suffolk County Community College with honors and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Stony Brook University, where he was a member of the Pre-Law Society.