Attorney Profiles: Musa-Obregon & Associates

S. Michael Musa-Obregon

Attorney Musa-Obregon is a native New Yorker, raised in the Bronx, and the son of immigrant parents. He earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1991, and as a student served as a judicial law clerk for a federal judge, the late U.S. District Judge Clifford Scott Greene. After graduating in 1991, Mr. Musa-Obregon worked as a criminal prosecutor in New York City as an Assistant District Attorney under the Honorable Richard Brown.

In 1993, he founded his private practice, dedicated to defending the rights of the accused. Attorney Musa-Obregon is committed to fighting for the best interests of citizens and immigrants who face criminal charges. He is regularly invited to speak at the New York Public Library's Center for New Americans, and is often asked to share his experience and legal knowledge at various colleges, universities, high schools, churches, mosques, and temples throughout NYC. Mr. Musa-Obregon has served as a featured commentator on a number of Spanish-language television and radio outlets, including Telemundo, Univision, MundoHispanoTV, Cosmovision and Radio-WADO. He regularly interviews luminaries of the political, legal, and entertainment communities for these media outlets, and he is fluent in Spanish and has some knowledge of the French, Polish, and Arabic languages.

Arlene Gordon-Oliver, Of Counsel

Attorney Gordon-Oliver is of counsel - exclusively in bankruptcy - to the team at Musa-Obregon & Associates. Her focus is serving clients in the field of bankruptcy, and she has over 20 years of experience in assisting clients with such matters as debtor and creditor rights, bankruptcy alternatives, and Chapter 7, Chapter 11, and Chapter 13 proceedings. In 2011, she was appointed to the panel of Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustees by the Department of Justice, on behalf of the United States Trustee, Region 2, and she serves by overseeing the marshaling, liquidation, and distribution of assets during the bankruptcy process. She is also a presiding justice for the Greenburgh Town Court of Westchester County, New York.

Ms. Gordon-Oliver earned her Juris Doctorate from Fordham University School of Law in 1992, and is admitted to practice by the New York State Bar, the United States District Court, Southern District of New York, the United States District Court, Eastern District of New York, and the United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit. She is also a member of a variety of local and national bar associations, including the Board of Governors National Bar Association, Westchester Black Bar Association, National Association of Women Judges, Westchester Magistrates Association, Women's Bar Association of the State of New York, and the New York State Magistrates Association. She is often invited to speak for the continuing legal education programs of national and local bar associations, and she has been awarded with several awards and commendations from a variety of organizations for her dedication to the profession and the community.

Benjamin Weisenberg

Benjamin Weisenberg is an immigration defense practitioner at Musa-Obregon and Associates, where he aggressively practices "in the trenches" at 26 Federal Plaza, 970 Broad Street in Newark and the formidable Varick Street Immigration Court in Manhattan. An honors cum laude law graduate from Capital University Law School in Ohio, where he concentrated in criminal litigation, Mr. Weisenberg founded the Seattle, Washington law firm, the Weisenberg Law Office before joining Musa-Obregon & Associates.

In private practice, Mr. Weisenberg defended individuals charged with felonies and misdemeanors, before relocating to New York City. Mr. Weisenberg also served as an Assistant City Prosecutor at Whitehall Mayor's Court in Ohio where he prosecuted different types of crimes, concluded plea negotiations and made sentencing recommendations to the court. He also interned at the United State's Attorney Office in Columbus, Ohio where he assisted in prosecuting environmental crimes. While in law school Mr. Weisenberg studied international law at the International Criminal Tribunal at The Hague, in the Netherlands, as well as Conflict Resolution at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel. Mr. Weisenberg holds a BA with concentrations in criminology and sociology from Ohio State University.

Pedro J. Moreno

Mr. Moreno concentrates in the fields of criminal defense and general immigration law including deportation defense. Mr. Moreno is admitted to the New York and Havana bars.

Multilingual in English, Spanish, French and Italian, Mr. Moreno holds an LL.M Masters of Law degree concentrating in Comparative Law from the University of Miami Law School. Before joining Musa-Obregon & Associates, Mr. Moreno worked as Special Counsel at the Miami office of Hunton & Williams, a large American corporate law firm where he worked on an international litigation involving alleged violations of RICO, the U.S. Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Prior to emigrating to the U.S., Mr. Moreno served as In House counsel for two Latin American corporations conducting commercial, regulatory and litigation defense in many national and international matters.

A 1992 graduate of the University of Havana where he received his LL.B, Bachelors of Law degree, Mr. Moreno also studied International Development Law in Rome, Italy, where classes were taught in French language, in the European civil law tradition. Mr. Moreno also served as a criminal trial lawyer for the Public Defenders Office in Havana where he defended many persons accused of crimes and tried many criminal cases to verdict.

Peter Kapitonov

Peter Kapitonov, a native of the Bronx and an attorney licensed in NY and NJ, manages the NJ practice of Musa-Obregon & Associates, concentrating in criminal defense and general immigration, including deportation.

A sergeant in the United States Marines, Mr. Kapitonov served in Fallujah in Operation Iraqi Freedom and participated in operations in the US and Japan.

A graduate of the famed Bronx High School of Science, Mr. Kapitonov went on to graduate Magna Cum Laude from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in NY minoring in law, philosophy, and history. Dean-listed with high honors at the New York Law School he graduated with Honors cum laude and twice received the Alfred D. Lerner Schorlaship for "a veteran of the armed forces who demonstrates excellence in legal studies. " Mr. Kapitonov also served as In-House Counsel for a real estate holding company in NY handling residential and commercial disputes in court.

Wanting to fulfill his passion of defending people and serving the immigrant population, he joined Musa-Obregon & Associates. While in law school, Mr. Kapitonov interned for the Honorable Judge Richard L. Price of the Bronx Supreme Court and drafted judicial decisions for the judge and assisted in judicial proceedings including search warrant applications. During law school, he also interned at Appellate Advocates in NY drafting appeals for people convicted of serious felonies crimes.

Mr. Kapitonov who is fluent in Russian, has received numerous awards including a Certificate of Recognition from Senator Carl Andrews NYS Senate 2^nd District, the NY State Assembly Certificate of Merit, the NYC Council Citation and various military awards and honors.