Yelena Graves, Esq.

Phone: (212)931-8307
Email: ygraves@sralawfirm.com


Yelena Graves represents large and small clients ranging from local entrepreneurs to global manufacturers and service providers. She brings a growing wealth of experience to her litigation, arbitration and transactional practice, in which she focuses on avoiding legal risks in advance, where possible, and achieving the best possible outcomes when claims and disputes do arise. Yelena especially enjoys helping clients in preventing costly disputes through careful contract negotiation and drafting.  When disputes arise, she helps resolve them through negotiation, mediation, arbitration or litigation.  In doing so, she strives to partner with clients in exploring new ways of achieving the most efficient and cost-effective results, whether by leveraging technology or simply understanding client objectives. Her practice includes product liability, general liability and business matters as well as appellate advocacy.

Yelena grew up and received her undergraduate education in Ukraine. Soon after immigrating to the U.S., she obtained her law degree from Touro Law Center, where she focused her studies on international commercial law and dispute resolution.  After graduation, she worked as a visiting scholar at the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (“UNCITRAL”).  She now brings her multicultural perspective and knowledge of international commercial law and dispute resolution to her work with U.S.-based and international clients.

Yelena is a member of the American Bar Association, Section of International Law (International Arbitration Committee, International Litigation Committee, Russia/Eurasia Committee, International Secured Transactions & Insolvency Committee) and Business Law Section.


Education

  • Touro Law Center, J.D., magna cum laude,
    Editorial board, Touro International Law Review
    Second Place in the world in Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot, Honorable Mention as Individual Oral Advocate and New York State Senate Resolution in recognition of success in the Moot
  • Kherson State University (Ukraine), B.A.

Admissions

  • New York Supreme Court
  • New Jersey Superior Court
  • U.S. District Court, Southern, Eastern, Northern and Western Districts of New York
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
  • U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey
  • U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Wisconsin

PUBLICATIONS

Fiduciary Duties of LLC Managers: Are They Subject to Prospective Waiver under the New York LLC Statute?

31 Touro L. Rev. 439 (2015)

Competence-Competence and Separability: American Style

in International Arbitration And International Commercial Law: Synergy, Convergence And Evolution 157 (S. Kröll, L.A. Mistelis, P. Perales Viscasillas & V. Rogers eds., Kluwer, 2011).

Supreme Court Upholds Arbitrator's Authority To Decide Unconscionability Challenge To Arbitration Agreement

Int’l Disp. Resol. News, ABA Section of International Law, Fall 2010, at 35.

REPORTED DECISIONS

  • Bendel v. Ramsey Winch Co., 2016 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 8176 (App. Div. 1st Dep’t 2016) (Summary judgment obtained on behalf of product manufacturer in a product liability lawsuit)
  • Harmacol Realty Co. LLC v Nike, Inc., 2016 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 6552 (App. Div. 1st Dep’t 2016).
  • Estate of Morgana v. Staten Island Hotel, 140 A.D.3d 1113, 35 N.Y.S.3d 193 (App. Div. 2d Dep’t 2016) (Summary judgment obtained in a wrongful death action on behalf of a hotel).
  • Rodriguez v. Toys R. Us-Delaware, Inc., 2016 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2785 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 2016) (Partial summary judgment obtained in a Labor Law matter).
  • Coolbaugh v. Int’l Bus. Machs. Corp., 116 A.D.3d 907, 983 N.Y.S.2d 808 (App. Div. 2d Dep’t 2014) (Summary judgment obtained on behalf of warehouse operator in a general liability matter).
  • Gunn v. Hytrol Conveyor Co., Inc., 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 72650 (E.D.N.Y. May 22, 2013) (Partial summary judgment obtained on behalf of product manufacturer dismissing breach of warranty and design defect claims).
  • Borges v. Heldrich Assocs., et al., 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 25406 (E.D.N.Y. Feb. 25, 2013) (New York Labor Law claims dismissed in action pending in New York where New Jersey loss-allocation rules apply).
  • Borges v. Heldrich Assocs., et al., 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 123877 (E.D.N.Y. Aug. 30, 2012) (New Jersey substantive law applies in New York federal court action).
  • Performance Comercial Importadora E Exportadora Ltda v. Sewa Int’l Fashions Pvt. Ltd., 2010 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1765, 2010 NY Slip Op 30857(U) (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 2010), rev’d, 79 A.D.3d 673, 915 N.Y.S.2d 44 (App. Div. 1st Dep’t 2010).