About Stephen Schwarz

Stephen G. Schwarz has been the managing partner of Faraci Lange, LLP since 1995. He focuses his legal practice on personal injury litigation, including medical malpractice, serious auto accident cases, product liability, and toxic tort and environmental contamination cases in both state and federal courts.

After graduating from Albany Law School in 1981, Stephen joined the Rochester, N.Y., law firm of Harris Beach. In 1982, he accepted an appointment as a confidential law clerk to Chief Judge Michael A. Telesca, U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York. After completing his clerkship in 1984 he became associated with the predecessor firm to Faraci Lange, LLP, and became a partner in that firm in 1988.

Stephen is a fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers. He recently completed a four-year term on the Board of Trustees of this international invitation-only organization with responsibility for Upstate New York, as well as the Ontario and Quebec provinces in Canada. He is a past president of the Rochester Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates as well as a past president of the Genesee Valley Affiliate of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association. He is also a member of the American Association for Justice, the New York State Bar Association, where he has served as chair of the Committee on Judicial Administration, and the Monroe County Bar Association, where he has served as chair of various committees and twice on the Board of Trustees.

Stephen was appointed to represent plaintiffs as Co-Lead Class Counsel in two class actions involving PFOA drinking water contamination in northeastern New York (Hoosick Falls water contamination).  He is also acting as Co-Lead Class Counsel in two consumer class actions involving overcharges to patients for their medical records.

Stephen has been awarded Martindale-Hubbell’s highest rating and is listed in the personal injury law, medical malpractice, and product liability sections of The Best Lawyers in America directory. Stephen has been named Best Lawyers Lawyer of the Year in Medical Malpractice, Product Liability Litigation, and Personal Injury Litigation multiple times. He has also been selected to be listed under personal injury law in the Super Lawyers directory every year since 2007 and has been listed among the Top 50 Super Lawyers in Upstate New York.

In 2018, Stephen received the Federal Bar Council’s Thurgood Marshall Award for exceptional commitment to pro bono service. He also received the Raymond Pauley Award from the Monroe County Bar Association in 2004 and 2010 for excellence in continuing legal education presentations to fellow lawyers.  In 2012, he was recognized with the prestigious Nathaniel Award, given out to one attorney each year in the Rochester area for going above and beyond the call of duty in service to their clients and the bar by The Rochester Daily Record. He also received the Special Service Award from the U.S. District Court, Western District of New York, in 1998, and the President’s Award from the Monroe County Bar Association in 1995 for his work on the judicial candidate evaluation program.

Stephen authored a chapter entitled “Representing the Decedent – The Wrongful Death Action in New York” for The Plaintiff’s Personal Injury Action in New York State published by the New York State Bar Association in 2008 and updated in 2013 and 2019. An article he published in the American College of Trial Lawyers Journal in 2018 about his experiences as a law student working for the infamous Roy Cohn was recognized by the American Bar Association as one of the best articles in a legal journal that year. He published an article in the New York State Bar Journal in 2019 advocating for a change to a standard jury instruction given in medical malpractice cases. He has written articles for Voir Dire magazine, including an article entitled “The Vioxx Saga” published in the Winter edition of 2005 and “Another Medical Malpractice Crisis” published in the Fall edition of 2003. He has also published articles in Trial Magazine and the New York State Bar Journal as well as numerous essays on topics involving civil litigation for the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle. He is a frequent lecturer on a range of litigation topics at continuing legal education programs presented by the New York State and Monroe County Bar Associations.

Stephen has served on the Board of the Monroe County Bar Foundation and as President of the Board of the Family Resource Centers of Rochester. He has also served on the Campaign Cabinet of the United Way. He currently serves on the Board of Directors and is a past President of the Board of Starbridge Services, Inc., an organization whose mission is to partner with people who have disabilities to realize fulfilling possibilities in education, employment, health, and community living, and to transform communities to include everyone.