Joseph Milizio leads Vishnick McGovern Milizio’s Business & Transactional Law, Real Estate, Exit Planning for Business Owners, LGBTQ Representation, and Surrogacy, Adoption, and Assisted Reproduction practices. He is a key member of the Matrimonial & Family Law and COVID-19 Legal Assistance practices.

Mr. Milizio represents start-up and established businesses, providing day-to-day general counsel and advice. He has significant experience in various areas of transactional law with an emphasis on business transactions, including acquisitions, sales, entity and owner representation, franchising, leasing, and transactional real estate matters.

He represents a wide range of businesses, including retailers, manufacturers, real estate entities, healthcare providers, and other professional industries and organizations.

His diverse corporate and real estate finance experience includes the representation of both borrowers and lenders. He regularly advises clients on corporate governance, dispute resolution, and estate planning matters. As head of the Exit Planning for Business Owners practice, he works with proprietors and other representatives as a consultant and legal advisor in planning for and implementing exit and succession strategies.

Mr. Milizio founded the firm’s groundbreaking LGBTQ Representation Practice nearly twenty years ago, one of the first in the nation.

The practice provides legal counsel, representation, and education to the LGBTQ community in a variety of matters, including workplace discrimination, estate planning, health care proxies and living wills, prenuptial agreements, real estate, domestic partnership agreements, property co-owner agreements, spousal rights and obligations, divorce and child custody, adoptions and surrogacy, name changes, and gender marker changes.

He is a trusted advisor to both his personal and business clients and often serves as executor, trustee, and legal guardian.

Mr. Milizio is regularly featured in the press, including NBC, CBS, News 12, 1010 WINS, WCBS 880, Star 99.9, Los Angeles Times, Newsday, LI Herald, and Long Island Business News.

Mr. Milizio received his J.D. from Brooklyn Law School and is a magna cum laude graduate of St. John’s University. He is admitted to practice law in the State of New York.

Select Memberships

• New York State Bar Association; LGBTQ Law Section
• Nassau County Bar Association; Lawyer Referral Committee, Corporation Law Committee, Real Estate Committee, LGBTQ Committee
• International Exit Planning Institute – Long Island Chapter, founding vice president
• Human Rights Campaign (HRC), National Board of Governors
• National Multiple Sclerosis Society Long Island Chapter, former chairperson
• National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) – Long Island Chapter, founding member
• The Mergers & Acquisitions Network, Advisory Board
• Hofstra University, LGBT Advisory Board

Select Recognitions

• Special Congressional Recognition, 2021
• Crain’s New York Business “Notable LGBTQ Leaders and Executives,” 2021
• Schneps Media “New York Power Lawyers 2021”
• New York Metro Super Lawyers, “Top Rated Business & Corporate Attorney,” 2020 – Present
• LI Herald “Top Lawyer of Long Island” Civil Rights, 2019
• LI Herald “Top Lawyer of Long Island” Pro Bono, 2019 – Present
• U.S. News & World Report-Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms in America,” 2022 (firmwide)
• New York Law Journal “New York Top Rated Lawyers 2019” (firmwide)
• LI Herald “2019 Top Boutique Firm of Long Island” (firmwide)
• New York Law Journal “New York’s Top-Rated Real Estate Lawyers 2020” (practice)
• New York Law Journal “New York’s Top-Rated Trusts and Estates Lawyers 2020” (practice)
• New York Law Journal “New York’s Top Rated LGBTQ Representation Lawyers 2020” (practice)
• Long Island Crisis Center “2017 Person of the Year”
• National Multiple Sclerosis Society Leadership Award
• Long Island Business News “Leadership in Law” award, 2013
• Avvo, 5-star reviewed member

Pro Bono & Community Involvement

• Human Rights Campaign (HRC), National Board of Governors
• National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) – Long Island Chapter, founding member
• National Multiple Sclerosis Society Long Island Chapter, former chairperson
• Long Island Crisis Center (LICC), Advisory Council
• Long Island Crisis Center Pride for Youth initiative, Planning Committee
• CUNY Pridefest 2019, sponsor
• Queens College, GLASA (Gay Lesbian and Straight Alliance) club, sponsor
• Queens College, City University of New York, volunteer speaker
• Theodore Roosevelt American Inn of Court, former member

Contact

[email protected] ǀ 516.437.4385 x108

3000 Marcus Avenue, Suite 1E9 ǀ Lake Success, NY 11042 ǀ vmmlegal.com