I have very close relationships with our clients. This dynamic allows me to implement decisions on how best to serve clients quickly and cost-effectively. I devise solutions to deliver the best service possible to our clients and can adjust more quickly to our client’s changing needs. If and when there is a legal problem facing our clients, our thorough knowledge of their business and the industry they work in provides us with the edge to provide effective analysis and legal advice. Our Outside General Counsel Services is unique in the legal industry. I enjoy being proactive to prevent problems rather than reactive to problems that have already arisen.

Practice Areas: corporate counsel, business law and transactions, business acquisitions, business divorces, corporate governance, commercial litigation, outside general counsel, employment law, employment defense of harassment and discrimination, intellectual property, trademarks, insurance, human resource consulting. 

Specialties: Representing all aspects of the For-Hire Vehicle industry in New York City

Information not intended to provide legal advice.

SHE BELONGED IN THAT COCKPIT. On April 17, 2018, Southwest Flight 1380 was climbing toward cruising altitude when the left engine exploded with such force that Captain Tammie Jo Shults thought they'd collided with another aircraft.

Metal shrapnel punched through the fuselage. Window 14A exploded. The cabin depressurized instantly. Oxygen masks dropped. The plane rolled violently and pitched into a dive. Smoke filled the cockpit. Passengers were terrified.

And through the chaos, Capt. Tammie Jo Shults picked up the radio. Her voice was perfectly calm. "Southwest 1380, we're single engine. We have part of the aircraft missing, so we're going to need to slow down a bit."

Air traffic controllers couldn't believe what they were hearing. While 148 people fought terror below her, Tammie Jo was simply flying. That impossible calm wasn't luck. It was forged through thirty years of being told she didn't belong.

She grew up wanting to fly jets. At a high school aviation lecture, a retired Air Force colonel asked if she was in the wrong room. The colonel told her that there were no professional women pilots. Girls didn't fly fighter jets. The military didn't want them.

The Air Force rejected her three times. After completing the U.S. Navy’s twelve-week OCS course for Aviation, Tammie Jo received her commission as an ensign on June 21, 1985.

A commanding officer refused to let a woman teach advanced aerial gunnery. He tried to humiliate Tammy Jo by reassigning her to teach Out-of-Control Flight recovery instead.

She taught pilots how to recover aircraft from spins, dives, and catastrophic failures. How to fly when instruments lie. When systems fail. When survival depends on instinct rather than procedure. That lesson, born from discrimination, would eventually save 148 lives.

When the Southwest Airlines engine exploded twenty-five years later, warning lights flooded her panel. Systems cascaded into failure. Tammie Jo flew by instinct. By feel. Everything she'd learned from that "punishment" assignment.

With one engine gone, fuselage torn open, and part of the aircraft missing, she kept the crippled plane stable and landed it anyway. One hundred forty-eight people walked away because of what Tammie Jo Shults did in those impossible minutes.

The world once told her she didn't belong in the sky. Recruiters dismissed her. Commanders tried to ground her. They gave her an assignment meant to humiliate her.

Instead, her Naval experience prepared her for the day when, as a pilot for Southwest Airlines, 148 lives would depend on her staying calm when an engine exploded at 32,000 feet. She spent thirty years being ready for a moment she hoped would never come.

148 people survived because barriers and discrimination could not change what Tammy Jo always knew. It was competence, not gender, that was key to success. 

#romanolaw #shankerlaw

Steven J. Shanker, Esq.

Counsel to the NYC Insurance & Transportation Industry. Outspoken/Honest & Proud of it.

Counsel that brings VALUE | Chair of Corporate Law | Lawyering with Purpose, Achieving Excellence

Christos Giannes

REFUSE TO QUIT. In 1982, a twenty-year-old Jon Bongiovi was broke, desperate, and watching his dream die.

Jon slept in his car and ate whatever he could afford. Jon was repeatedly rejected by record labels, told that rock and roll was finished.

MTV had just launched. New Wave was taking over. Nobody wanted guitar-driven rock anymore. Nobody except this kid from Sayreville, New Jersey, who refused to quit.

Jon worked as a janitor at Power Station Studios in NYC, one of the biggest in the world. He swept floors, but when everyone had gone home, Jon would sneak into the studio and record demos during leftover time.

One night in 1982, a local radio DJ named Chip Hobart heard one of Jon's demos. The song was called "Runaway". It was a story about a girl escaping her life and refusing to be held down.

Chip played it on his radio show, and the phone lines exploded. Suddenly, this song that no record label wanted was the most requested song on the station. Album #1 was a success

By 1986, the pressure was crushing. Bon Jovi’s second album had underperformed. Some called them a one-hit wonder. If the third album failed, they'd be dropped. Jon was twenty-four, with his entire career on the line.

So he did what he always did: worked harder than everyone else. Jon and Richie locked themselves away, writing obsessively. Jon understood something most rock stars missed: People don't want perfection. They want a connection.

The song was about Tommy and Gina. It was the story of every kid in New Jersey, every working-class family in America, every person who'd ever fought to keep going. The song was "Livin' on a Prayer."  

The album Slippery When Wet sold over 28 million copies worldwide.

After Slippery When Wet, Bon Jovi became one of the biggest bands in the world, but Jon never forgot where he came from.

In 2011, Jon opened JBJ Soul Kitchen. A nonprofit restaurant where people can volunteer in exchange for meals if they can't afford to pay. No questions asked. No judgment. Just food and dignity.

He's built affordable housing for homeless veterans. He's donated millions to charity. He did it quietly, without fanfare. Because Jon Bon Jovi never forgot what it felt like to be broke, desperate, and invisible.

But Jon's real legacy isn't the record sales. It's this: He proved you don't have to be the most talented. You just have to refuse to quit.

Because sometimes the difference between failure and success is refusing to stop trying. That's all it takes to change everything.

Wishing everyone an inspiring weekend. 

#romanolaw #shankerlaw

LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD. On July 13, 1985, Freddie Mercury had every reason not to walk on stage.

Queen was no longer the unstoppable force they'd once been. Their last three albums hadn't cracked the American top twenty. Critics whispered they were past their prime. The band members weren't even sure they'd stay together.

Backstage at Wembley Stadium, a doctor delivered the worst possible news: Freddie had a severe throat infection. He was advised not to perform.

72,000 people waited in the crowd. Nearly two billion more watched on television around the world. Live Aid was the biggest concert in history and Queen was about to miss their moment.
But Freddie Mercury didn't become Freddie Mercury by playing it safe.

At 6:41 PM, the band took the stage. Freddie opened at the piano with "Bohemian Rhapsody," then launched into "Radio Ga Ga". He grabbed a cut-off microphone stand and owned every inch of that stage, strutting, preening, conducting the crowd like a symphony.

By the time Queen finished with "We Are the Champions," the other artists backstage knew what had happened. Bob Geldof, who organized Live Aid, later said: "Queen were absolutely the best band of the day. They played the best, had the best sound, used their time to the full."

In 2005, that twenty-one-minute performance was voted the greatest live rock show of all time. 

Queen had been a band on the verge of breaking up. After Live Aid, they launched their biggest tour ever.

Freddie Mercury had been told his voice might fail him. Instead, he reminded the world what belief sounds like. Sometimes the voice you're told to protect is the one that needs to be heard the most.

#romanolaw #shankerlaw

PATTIE BOYD AND GEORGE HARRISON. The famous couple married 60 years ago yesterday on January 21, 1966.

This is a picture from their honeymoon in Barbados. Their marriage began as one of the most talked-about marriages of the 1960s.

Boyd, a successful model and muse, met Harrison while filming A Hard Day's Night (1964), where she played a minor role. Their relationship quickly blossomed, culminating in a wedding on January 21, 1966.

Barbados, a tropical paradise, was a fitting destination for the couple, reflecting the glamorous and carefree spirit of the 1960s. During their honeymoon, the couple’s stylish and relaxed appearance captured the attention of fans and media, making them symbols of the era's cultural and fashion revolutions. 

Boyd’s chic outfits and natural beauty, combined with Harrison’s status as a member of The Beatles, made them an iconic pair.

As one of the most famous muses of the 20th century, Pattie Boyd inspired several songs by George Harrison, including the timeless classic “Something”, widely regarded as one of the greatest love songs of all time. 

Their marriage also represented the intersection of music, fashion, and celebrity culture, a hallmark of the transformative 1960s.

The photograph offers a glimpse into the personal lives of two influential figures. Their relationship, though eventually ending, left an indelible mark on popular culture, solidifying their place in the history of music and style.

#romanolaw #shankerlaw

THE HIGH BRIDGE. The High Bridge is the oldest bridge in New York City. It opened in 1848 as part of the Croton Aqueduct. It is located on Amsterdam Ave between 172nd Street and 174th Street in Upper Manhattan.

A steel arch bridge, 140 ft high, spans the Harlem River and connects the NYC boroughs of the Bronx and Manhattan. High Bridge originally had 16 individual stone arches. In 1928, the five that spanned the Harlem River were replaced by a single 450-foot steel arch. The bridge was closed to all traffic around 1970

After the construction of the Major Deegan Expressway in 1956 and the Harlem River Drive in 1964, public use of the waterfront faded. The river became polluted, paths were blocked, and the pull of the parks on the water's edge vanished. The High Bridge remained closed for 39 years until its restoration began in 2009.

After 6 years of restoration, the bridge was reopened to pedestrians and bicycles on June 9, 2015, after being closed for over 45 years. When you cross the bridge, you will be walking above the aqueduct’s original pipe, which still lies beneath the walkway of the bridge.

The High Bridge is a popular spot to promenade on a nice day. The bridge achieved fame as an attraction for New Yorkers and tourists and a favorite subject for artists and photographers. 

Equally popular were boat cruises up and down the river and crew boat racing competitions. 

Later, once the Harlem River Speedway was opened in 1898, sightseers strolled along the new waterfront esplanade in the cool breezes and watched horses and buggies fly by.

#romanolaw #shankerlaw

THE BIRTH OF TOLL HOUSE COOKIES. In 1938, Ruth Graves Wakefield stood in the kitchen of her Toll House Inn in Massachusetts and changed dessert history forever.

Ruth invented the chocolate chip cookie and traded the recipe for a lifetime supply of chocolate instead of royalties.

Before 1938, chocolate chip cookies didn't exist. Not a single person on Earth had ever tasted one. 

Ruth wasn't just any home cook. She had a degree in household arts and had worked as a dietitian and food lecturer. She understood the science of baking, the chemistry of how ingredients interact, how heat transforms dough, and how chocolate behaves in an oven.

That day, preparing butter cookies for her guests, Ruth grabbed a bar of Nestlé semi-sweet chocolate, chopped it into chunks, and folded them into her dough. When the cookies emerged from the oven, the chocolate hadn't melted into the batter. It had softened into pockets of gooey sweetness studded throughout the cookie.

Whether by careful experimentation or happy accident, she had created something entirely new: not a chocolate cookie, not a cookie with frosting, but a butter cookie with chocolate chunks.

The response from her inn's guests was immediate. People raved. They begged for the recipe. They told friends—word spread. Ruth called them "Chocolate Crunch Cookies," and they became the signature dessert of the Toll House Inn.

Then Nestlé noticed something strange. Their semi-sweet chocolate bar sales were exploding in Massachusetts. When they investigated, they discovered why: home cooks were buying the bars specifically to make Ruth's cookies.

In 1939, Ruth and Nestlé made a deal. The company would print her Toll House Cookie recipe right on their chocolate bar wrappers, giving her immense, massive free publicity. In exchange, Ruth would receive a lifetime supply of Nestlé chocolate.

What she didn't receive: royalties. No percentage of sales. No ongoing financial compensation for what would become the most popular cookie recipe in human history.

But Ruth wasn't trying to build a cookie empire. She was running an inn. Those cookies were driving customers to her door every single day. The lifetime chocolate supply wasn't trivial either.

Think about what Ruth achieved: She transformed American dessert culture. Ruth turned down wealth to keep something she valued more: the simple pleasure of sharing something good.

#romanolaw #shankerlaw

DELOREAN. John Z. DeLorean was a visionary car designer and creator of one of the most iconic vehicles in automotive history.

In the 1960s, DeLorean became the youngest division chief in General Motors’ history. He was the creative force behind the Pontiac GTO and the Firebird.

By 1972, at just 47 years old, he was being groomed to become president of GM, the world’s largest automaker. Then in 1973, John DeLorean walked away to pursue his own vision: building a revolutionary sports car.

DeLorean's dream was ambitious: a stainless-steel sports car with gull-wing doors that opened upward like a bird taking flight. Sleek and futuristic.

The car (DMC-12) was supposed to change everything, but it didn't. Production delays plagued the company, and by the time it arrived, the market had changed, and the car itself was disappointing.

John DeLorean's dream was collapsing, and then someone approached him with an opportunity. James Hoffman knew DeLorean casually and then reached out to him with a proposition: he knew some wealthy people who might be interested in helping save the DeLorean Motor Company. DeLorean agreed to meet.

What DeLorean didn't know was that Hoffman was working as an FBI informant. The "investors" Hoffman promised were undercover FBI agents. The financing would come from cocaine. The FBI orchestrated a sting operation to catch a high-profile, wealthy businessman.

On October 19, 1982, DeLorean arrived at a hotel in LA.  Two undercover FBI agents posed as drug dealers. They opened a suitcase holding 55 pounds of cocaine. Moments later, FBI agents entered the room and placed DeLorean under arrest.

The media frenzy was immediate and brutal. The golden boy of Detroit was caught on videotape with a suitcase full of cocaine, toasting a drug deal. DeLorean began preparing for the fight of his life.

DeLorean's legal team made a bold decision: they would argue that DeLorean had been entrapped, a legal defense difficult to prove.  On August 16, 1984, after months of testimony, John DeLorean was acquitted on all charges.

Legally, he was cleared, but the victory was hollow. The DeLorean Motor Company had filed for bankruptcy a week after his arrest. The factory closed. Fewer than 9,000 DMC-12s had been produced.

The man who'd once been worth tens of millions died with relatively little. The dream he'd sacrificed everything for was gone forever.

But in 1985, a movie came out. “Back to the Future.” The car that had been a commercial failure and bankrupted its creator became one of the most famous automobiles in cinematic history.

Suddenly, the DeLorean wasn't just a failed sports car. It was a cultural icon. Children who'd never heard of John DeLorean knew the DeLorean. The stainless steel car that traveled through time.

John DeLorean's dream car outlived him. Its reputation was rescued by a movie he had nothing to do with. John DeLorean died on March 19, 2005, at age 80.

#romanolaw #shankwerlaw

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