Claire Rush is a trial attorney who specializes in the defense of high exposure personal injury actions. Ms. Rush has successfully defended public and private entities against bus, truck, auto, railway, New York Labor Law, premises, elevator, escalator, environmental, security and products liability actions for the last 40 years. She has a longstanding interest and expertise in the discovery and prosecution of insurance fraud and was one of the first attorneys in New York State to regularly leverage social media in the defense of personal injury cases. She has tried more than 150 jury cases to verdict in New York State.

Claire has been recognized as being among the top 1% of lawyers in America since 2016. She has received a Preeminent AV rating of 5.0 / 5.0 from Martindale- Hubbell and been identified as one of the top personal injury defense attorneys in the Metro New York area by both Super Lawyer Magazine and American Legal Media. Ms. Rush has been recognized by the Bar Register of Preeminent Women Lawyers, the New York Times and AVENUE Magazine as one of New York City’s top women trial lawyers.

Claire regularly lecturers and writes articles about important substantive and procedural issues that impact the defense of personal injury litigation. She is regularly invited by the judiciary to sit as a representative of the defense bar on committees that address trial and discovery issues. News outlets such as the New York Law Journal, New York Times, New York Daily News and Crains New York regularly reach out to her for comment on cases and legislative actions.

Ms. Rush is a Past President and Past Chairman of the Board of the Defense Association of New York (DANY) and is the Vice President of the Brooklyn Women’s Bar Foundation. In 2021 she founded the DANY Trial Academy which provides hands on training in trial skills to young lawyers. Ms. Rush was also the catalyst behind DANY’s award winning diversity initiative which was geared to equip mid-level diverse and women attorneys with the skills necessary to attain partnership status and build a book of business. Finally, Ms. Rush developed the Brooklyn Pipeline Initiative a program for first generation college students who are interested in attending law school. This program provides participants with direct instruction on how to successfully apply to and finance a law school education. Participants who complete the program are afforded internship positions with judges, public agencies and private firms. The New York State Women Bar Association presented Claire with the 2019 Hanna S. Cohn Award in recognition of her contributions to the profession.

Ms. Rush received her B.A. in Political Science from Trinity College in Hartford, CT in 1980 and her J.D. from New York Law School in 1983. Ms. Rush is admitted to practice law in New York as well as in the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.