Traumatic Brain Injury & Severe Chronic Pain

Michael Flomenhaft, Esq.

Tel: 646 - 747 - 0302

Fax: 646 - 747 - 0301

Michael Flomenhaft is a graduate of Boston University School of Law and the Trial Lawyers College. He also received his master’s degree in British and American Literature from Hofstra University. The vast majority of his practice involves trying cases for victims of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and severe chronic pain. He has tried traumatic brain injury and chronic pain cases throughout the United States. His chronic pain cases frequently involve Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS)/Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD) or other traumatically caused changes in the nervous system producing agonizing, unrelenting pain and potentially adverse brain consequences.

He is renowned for his vast knowledge of neurosciences encompassing neuroimaging, neuropsychology, neurobiology and the neuroanatomy of brain trauma and chronic pain and trial skills related to these subjects. He is also distinguished for his knowledge in spinal neurology, the psychologically fragmenting consequences of trauma including Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD), and the evidentiary challenges entailed in the courtroom presentation of these claims.

Many of Mr. Flomenhaft’s major awards have been for clients whose brain injury was either unrecognized or initially medically minimized. These awards include cases in which there has often been no loss of consciousness, no emergency room diagnosis of brain injury, and no prior imaging proof that brain trauma has occurred. In addition to having tried brain injury and chronic pain cases throughout the United States, he is frequently retained by New York attorneys to take over trial of their brain injury or severe chronic pain cases already in progress.

Mr. Flomenhaft has won landmark evidentiary rulings from New York state courts establishing the scientific validity of Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI), which shows white matter/axonal brain damage not infrequently seen in victims of motor vehicle whiplash and construction accidents, Quantitative Electroencephalography (qEEG), which can profile deterioration in the brain’s electrical activity following traumatic brain injury, and Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), showing brain changes demonstrating severe pain. Additionally, he is the first New York lawyer to put into evidence: diffusion tensor imaging, quantitative MRI analysis showing brain atrophy, electrical evidence of sleep disturbance as a consequence of traumatic brain injury, and fMRI to objectively demonstrate severe chronic pain by showing associated brain activation.

Admission to Practice

New York
United States District Court: Southern District of New York
United States District Court: Eastern District of New York

United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

Professional Activities

2008 – 2009: Program for Imaging and Cognitive Sciences at Columbia University
Director of Neurolaw

2011: 2011 Second Circuit Judicial Conference, The Legal Brain-scape: Neuroscience & the Law
Lecturer, “The Emerging Imaging Science of Chronic Pain: Objectifying the Subjective”

2012: Today’s Verdict, BronxNet Television
Presenter, “How Chronic Pain Can Damage the Brain”

2012: CUNY TV, Science & U!
Presenter, “Proof of Pain” Televised Episode

2013: Fordham Law School
Lecturer, Presented two lectures at Neuroscience and Law seminar

2014: Fordham Law School, Continuing Legal Education (CLE)
Chair and Lead Presenter, “Neuroscience in the Courtroom,” inaugural conference for CLE

2015 to Present: Fordham Law School, Board of Advisors, Neuroscience and Law Center

2015: CUNY TV, Science & U!
Presenter, “Proof of Pain” Televised Episode

2016: American Bar Association (ABA) Journal
Contributor, Article written by Kevin Davis entitled “Personal injury lawyers turn to neuroscience to back claims of chronic pain,” ABA Journal, March 1, 2016

2017: SUNY Binghamton, Harper College pre-Law and Integrated Neuroscience departments
Lecturer, “Neuroscience and Justice”

2017: American Bar Association (ABA) Continuing Legal Education (CLE) Webinar
Lecturer, “Using Neuroscience in Criminal and Civil Cases”

2018: Fordham Law School, Continuing Legal Education
Presenter, The Diagnosis, Treatment, and Prevention of Concussion, “The Hidden Harm of Traumatic Brain Injuries”

2018: Fordham Law School
Lecturer, Law and Neuroscience Speakers Series, “Concussion: Neuroscience versus Medical Perspectives”

2019: 4th Annual Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome Association (RSDSA) Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) Long Island Awareness Event
Sponsor and Speaker, “Consequences of CRPS/RSD Pain”

2019: Stanford University Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
BrainMind Summit, Participant, Invitation only summit featuring world wide distinguished speakers and invitees devoted to neuroscience shared new insights and perspectives on brain functioning, enhancement, and treatments.

2021: 2021 Annual Society for Brain Mapping and Therapeutics Conference
Presenter, “Brain Injury from a Legal Point of View” and “Legal Aspects of Neurotrauma”
Lectures approved for medical continuing education, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine

2021: Zwanger-Pesiri Radiology and Long Island Spine Care Affiliates (LISCA)
Lecturer, Traumatic Brain Injury: A multidisciplinary symposium, Identification and Management of Concussion as Traumatic Brain Injury in Clinical Practice, “Challenges To Proving Long Term Effects of Concussion/Mild Traumatic Brain Injury”

2022: Fordham Law School, Continuing Legal Education
Lecturer, Dementia and the Law, The Cognitive and Ethical Challenges of Dementia in Criminal Law and Personal Injury Law
“Dementia Consequences of Concussion in Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation”

2022: Injured Workers’ Bar Association (IWBA) Continuing Legal Education (CLE)
Lecturer, Spring 2022 CLE, “Recognizing and Representing Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI/Post Concussion Syndrome) as a Potentially Permanently Incapacitating Injury”

2023: Global Psychiatric Epidemiology Group (GPEG), New York State Psychiatric Institute, Clinical Training Workshop, Columbia University Irving Medical Center
Lecturer, “The Impoverishment of Identity and Relationship in Chronic Post Concussion Syndrome and Its Legal Ramifications”

2023: Co-Sponsor, Fordham Law School CLE, “The New AI: The Legal and Ethical Implications of ChatGPT and Other Emerging Technologies”
Presented by Fordham Law Review and the Neuroscience Law Center on which Michael Flomenhaft is on the Board of Advisors

Professional Associations and Organizations

American Association for Justice
New York State Trial Lawyers Association
New York State Academy of Trial Lawyers
Fordham Law School, Board of Advisors, Neuroscience and Law Center