Written by Craig D. Robins, Esq.

 

 UPDATE:  Click here for Bankruptcy Judge Dennis E. Milton Funeral Service Information

 

Last night, Judge Milton passed away.  He had been battling cancer for several years.  He had served as a bankruptcy judge in the Eastern District of New York, in the Brooklyn Bankruptcy Court.

 

Upon recently becoming unable to continue regularly appear on the bench, visiting Judge Joel B. Rosenthal was recalled to serve in his place.  Judge Rosenthal has been sitting in Brooklyn since May 17, 2010 and, for now, will continue to do so until September 3, 2010.

 

Judge Dennis E. Milton became a bankruptcy judge on April 30, 2001.  Before his appointment, he practiced for more than 25 years as a litigator in a broad variety of areas, which included criminal defense, criminal prosecution, municipal law, bankruptcy, intellectual property and labor law. 

 

Judge Milton attended Regis High School in New York City, Columbia College and the Fordham University School of Law, where he served as Notes Editor on the Urban Law Journal. 

 

After graduating law school, Judge Milton joined the white collar criminal defense firm of McGuire & Lawler, which was counsel in many prominent cases, including the successful defense of two Warner-Lambert executives following an explosion at the American Chicle facility in Long Island City in 1977 and the representation of the co-defendant in the Reverend Moon federal tax evasion trial and appeal. 

 

Thereafter, Judge Milton served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, where he was one of the three attorneys who founded the Long Island satellite office in 1985.

 

As an Assistant United States Attorney in the Criminal Division, Judge Milton obtained the indictment, extradition and conviction of defense contractors selling military helicopter parts to a European supplier for trans-shipment to Iran in violation of the Arms Export Control Act; and prosecuted matters such as tax evasion; bank frauds involving check kiting schemes, credit card fraud, false entries on bank records, money laundering, illegal transfers and sale of firearms; criminal trademark infringement; and crimes related to the obstruction of justice.  

 
From 1988 through 1991, Judge Milton served as Chief Deputy County Attorney for the County of Suffolk Department of Law. Judge Milton was the chief administrative officer for an office consisting of 57 municipal attorneys and was the chief liaison officer with county agencies in contract, labor and tax matters.  He argued several tax and bankruptcy appeals before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, including In re Parr Meadows Racing Association, Inc.  and was trial counsel in the defense of several federal civil rights cases.  Judge Milton negotiated municipal contracts for county agencies, including a complete overhaul of the county health center hospital contracts. 

 
In 1992, Judge Milton became Special Counsel to Bryan Levitin Franzino & Rosenberg.  Judge Milton represented commercial clients as plaintiffs in commercial mortgage foreclosure proceedings and related litigation in bankruptcy court and in enforcement of contractual obligations in federal court.  In  criminal matters, Judge Milton represented professionals and business executives in federal and state investigations, as well as defendants in federal and state courts.  From November 1996 to his appointment, Judge Milton served as Special Counsel to the Chief Investigator of the Independent Review Board, which oversees the International Brotherhood of Teamsters pursuant to a Consent Order entered in the Southern District.