The Defense Trial Lawyers Association of Western New York (DTLA) named Neil A. Goldberg its 2016 Defense Trial Lawyer of the Year at its annual meeting and holiday party, which it held on December 7 in Buffalo. The Robert M. Kiebala Memorial Award is the DTLA’s highest honor, the organization said, and is given to an attorney who best embodies its mission of “promoting the highest standard of trial conduct through member education and advocating the defense position in civil cases with the judiciary and where appropriate in the New York State legislature.”

One of seven founding partners of Goldberg Segalla, Neil has spent more than four decades defending complex product liability and catastrophic injury cases around the country. His most recent trial was one of only a few conducted in the United States in the last 30 years concerning a commercial airline disaster.

Neil is a former president of the Defense Research Institute, the largest organization of civil defense lawyers in the country, and a former president and chairman of the board of Lawyers for Civil Justice. He has been the editor and contributing author of numerous books and treatises on the defense of complex personal injury cases and on preparing for and trying civil lawsuits. Neil is also on the Executive Committee of the USLAW Network.

Earlier this year, Neil was honored (along with partner Thomas F. Segalla) with the Distinguished Alumni Award for Private Practice by the SUNY Buffalo Law Alumni Association in recognition of his contributions to the legal profession and the community.