Hon. Edward W. McCarty III (Ret.)

Honorable Edward W. McCarty III has an impeccable reputation for integrity, knowledge of the law and superior settlement skills. His distinguished judicial career spans 30 years and includes sitting on the benches of the District, Supreme and Surrogate Courts in Nassau County.

From 2011 until his retirement in 2015, Hon. McCarty served 5 years as Judge of the Surrogate’s Court where he presided over trust and estate disputes, special education issues, and complex adoption disputes, one of which included complex international law mediation. Prior to his election to the Surrogate’s Court,he spent nearly two decades as Supreme Court Justice handling complex tort litigation and commercial disputes, medical malpractice including nursing home/hospital matters and personal injury cases.

Judge McCarty’s vast experience on the bench gave him the opportunity to rule over many areas of the law that included commercial, trusts and estates, international, art valuation and ownership, professional liability, insurance, government, medical malpractice, professional malpractice, premises liability and personal injury. He is known as a hard-working detail-oriented judge whose even- handed demeanor makes him highly-effective in facilitating the resolution of complex matters. He is particularly adept at winning the confidence of counsel and clients alike. His ability to approach matters fairly and in an unbiased manner along with his openness and willingness to listen to arguments, make Judge McCarty extremely well-suited to arbitrate and mediate cases. He is known for his impartiality and is well-respected by both sides of the bar.

As a longtime member of the National Institute of Trial Advocacy (NITA), Judge McCarty has broad experience in preparing attorneys for high stakes litigation providing invaluable feedback regarding the effectiveness of various trial strategies being considered. In doing so, he has advised hundreds of attorneys, as they have prepared for trial, with new approaches, new skills and fundamentally changed the way they have represented clients.

According to the most recent edition of the New York Judge Reviews, attorneys who have appeared before Judge McCarty have commented that he has: “a high level of integrity and good intentions”; “very knowledgeable about the law with very well-reasoned decisions”; “even and unbiased”; “a good settler, very actively involved; makes an effort to get a meeting of the minds.”

In addition to his commitment to the practice of law and justice, Hon. McCarty is well known for his humanitarian efforts in world affairs, both domestically and internationally. In 2010, he was designated a fellow in the ASTAR Judge Program (Advanced Science and Technology Adjudication Resource project) which provided an advanced level of scientific and technological training to better manage and adjudicate cases. Prior to that, he was appointed by the International Judicial Institute as a participant at the Sir Richard May International Law Seminar at The Hague, Netherlands and the Cassin Seminar on Human Rights Law in Strasbourg, France which addressed international law and human rights issues.

During a 15-year period (1990 – 2005), Judge McCarty participated in numerous national and international altruistic endeavors assisting those in distress. In 1990, he was an Assistant Mission Director for the Department of Defense and provided humanitarian support to Afghan refugees in Pakistan. In 1991, he was part of a 50-member Kuwaiti Task Force that re-established essential government services to Kuwait. In 1994, he helped restore judicial services to Slovenia and Albania (The Balkans) after a long period of unrest in that region and did the same for the government of Haiti the following year. In 2005, Judge McCarty spent a month as the Disaster Relief Coordinator in Louisiana in the wake of Hurricane Katrina acting as a liaison between FEMA and the American Red Cross.

In addition to being a NAM neutral, Judge McCarty is a Special Professor of Law at Hofstra Law School and an Adjunct Professor of Law at St. John’s University Law School where he has taught pre-trial skills, medical malpractice and estate planning.

Judge McCarty is available to hear cases throughout the New York Metro area.