Biography | Etta Brandman

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Etta Brandman

Of Counsel

ebrandman@pbwt.com

New York, NY 212.336.2225

Etta Brandman

Of Counsel

ebrandman@pbwt.com

New York, NY 212.336.2225

Etta Brandman practices in the firm’s Trusts and Estates department, where she counsels clients in all aspects of estate planning, including the drafting of wills and trusts, estate and gift taxation, and estate and trust administration. Ms. Brandman has advised clients on lifetime planning for the inter-generational transfer of wealth, and succession and tax planning for businesses. She has extensive experience regarding the laws governing charitable giving and not-for-profit organizations.

Ms. Brandman both advises and serves as director for numerous public charities and private foundations, including the Carroll and Milton Petrie Foundation and the Harkness Foundation for Dance. Ms. Brandman has written and lectured extensively on the subject of charitable giving for both expert and mass audiences.

New York University School of Law (J.D., 1980)
Brooklyn College (B.A., summa cum laude, 1977)

New York

Firm Highlights

New Executive Order Regarding IRA Enhancements

Introduction On April 30, 2026, President Trump signed an Executive Order (the “Order”) designed to expand access to retirement savings for the tens of millions of American workers who currently lack employer-sponsored retirement plans, including many small-business employees, part-time workers, independent contractors, and self-employed individuals facing barriers to saving for retirement. The Order is designed to complement the Federal Saver's Match enacted under the SECURE 2.0 Act, which provides eligible workers with a federal matching contribution of up to $1,000 for retirement savings, and to promote high-quality, low-cost individual retirement account (“IRA”) access. Key Provisions and Implications The Order directs the Secretary of the Treasury (the “Secretary”) to establish, by January 1, 2027, an informational website (TrumpIRA.gov) that will serve as a...

Firm Achieves Significant Lanham Act Win for Johnson & Johnson

On April 17, 2026, Patterson Belknap secured a significant victory for our clients, Johnson & Johnson and Janssen Biotech, Inc. (“J&J”), when the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York denied a preliminary injunction in a Lanham Act suit filed by Bayer HealthCare LLC (“Bayer”). The dispute concerned a retrospective scientific study sponsored by J&J that compared the real-world efficacy of both companies’ prostate cancer medications, concluding that J&J’s ERLEADA was associated with a reduction in overall risk of death approximately 50% greater than Bayer’s NUBEQA. Bayer alleged that the study was methodologically flawed, and that J&J’s publication of the study results therefore constituted “false advertising.” The statements at issue included a presentation given by the study authors at a medical...

Bankruptcy Court Denies Motions to Convert Case and to Appoint an Examiner

A bankruptcy judge has ruled that a debtor can satisfy the Bankruptcy Code’s rehabilitation standard by selling its assets as a going concern and thereby avoid conversion from chapter 11 to chapter 7. In the same decision, the court denied a motion seeking the appointment of what the movants called an “examiner with expanded powers.” In re Deqser, LLC, Case No. 25-10687, 2026 Bankr. LEXIS 1004 (Bankr. D. Del. Apr. 22, 2026). The debtors operated a laundry business that serviced hotels located in New York City. The business suffered a downturn following an electrical fire at its facility as well as problems with its software. The debtors filed chapter 11 in early 2025. During their case, the debtors lost about $200,000 a...

Firm Partners to Speak at American Conference Institute's 2026 Biosimilars & Innovator Biologics Conference

On Tuesday, June 2 and Wednesday, June 3, 2026, Partners Jay Cho and Aron Fischer will speak at the American Conference Institute's 2026 Biosimilars & Innovator Biologics Conference, the premier forum for biosimilars strategy, innovation, and litigation trends. On June 2 at 12:00pm, Mr. Cho will speak on a panel titled "The Evolving Parameters of the Safe Harbor Defense to Patent Infringement: Excluded Activities and the 'Reasonably Related' Standard." He will join Eric W. Dittmann (Partner, Paul Hastings), James T. Evans, Ph.D. (Senior Director, Assistant General Counsel, Global IP Litigation, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.), and Henry Gu (SVP, Head of Intellectual Property, Zentalis Pharmaceuticals) for a discussion on critical elements of the Safe Harbor defense and recent case law. On June 3 at 2:00pm, Mr....

Stephanie Glaser to Speak at American Conference Institute's 6th Annual Summit for Women Leaders in IP Law

On Wednesday, June 3, Counsel Stephanie Bunting Glaser will speak on a program at the American Conference Institute's 6th Annual Summit for Women Leaders in IP Law titled "Copyrights in Synthetic Media: Protecting Creativity in the AI Era." Ms. Glaser will join Emily Lanza (Senior Counsel, U.S. Copyright Office, Office of Policy & International Affairs) to explore new challenges created by artificial intelligence in copyright law and offer strategies for safeguarding creative assets. To learn more, please click here.

SEC Enforcement Results for FY 2025: “Unique Period of Transition”

The Securities and Exchange Commission issued a press release on April 7, 2026, announcing the agency’s enforcement results for transitional period under the new presidential administration.[1] Describing FY 2025 as “a unique period of transition,” the statement pointed to a pulse of enforcement actions initiated between October and December 2024 [2] under outgoing SEC Chair Gary Gensler, critiquing the activity as “unprecedented rush” and the focus as an “aggressive pursuit of novel legal theories.”[3]. Current SEC Chair Paul S. Atkins described the shift as having “redirected resources toward the types of misconduct that inflict the greatest harm—particularly fraud, market manipulation, and abuses of trust.”[4] During FY 2025, the SEC brought 303 standalone enforcement actions, a combination of civil suits and administrative procedures that...

Firm Obtains Dismissal of False Claims Act Suit on Behalf of McGraw Hill

On May 15, 2026, Patterson Belknap successfully secured the dismissal of a False Claims Act lawsuit brought by the Florida Attorney General's Office (the "Florida AG Office") against the firm’s client, education solutions provider McGraw Hill, LLC ("McGraw Hill"), in Florida's Second Judicial Circuit Court. The lawsuit was brought in August 2025 following an investigation and subpoena process in which the Florida AG's Office alleged that McGraw Hill violated Florida’s “most favored nation” pricing statute. The Court ruled that Florida’s most favored nation statute did not regulate the sale of materials within Florida, requiring dismissal of the entirety of the Florida AG Office’s complaint with prejudice. The case was brought by the State of Florida against McGraw Hill and Savvas, another provider...

Insider Trading Safeguards Can Mitigate Sports Betting Risk

From sports betting to prediction markets, the phenomenon some call "the casino-ification of America" has captured the American zeitgeist. Sports betting in particular has become ubiquitous since the U.S. Supreme Court's 2018 decision in Murphy v. NCAA, which opened the door for states to legalize sports gambling. Fans can now regularly bet on games and player performances directly from their smartphones. And, as several recent criminal indictments have alleged, some bettors are capitalizing on their access to inside information to obtain an unfair advantage on their wagers. This article will discuss how, because sports-related inside information continues to become more valuable, organizations including professional sports leagues, governing bodies, college athletic conferences, athletic departments and teams are playing an increasingly prominent role in...

Employment Law Compliance for Start-Ups

Before you press "go" to launch your next business idea, as a founder and entrepreneur of a start-up company you should address an important (if uninspiring) step: employment law compliance. Complacency now can turn into an expensive distraction later, with the potential to create surprise liabilities and maybe even scuttle future deals. This alert flags core employment law issues every start-up should tackle now so they don't snowball later. Onboarding Compliance Checklist Before work can begin, employers must check an ever-growing number of compliance boxes: Register to Do Business: Register your company in each state where you have employees (e.g., the local departments of tax, labor, state, etc.). Workers' Compensation and Unemployment Insurance: Obtain both in each state where you have employees. New Hire Reporting:...

Retention of Bankruptcy Professionals: Court Concludes that a Debtor’s First Cousin is Not a “Relative” and Thus Not an “Insider”

A professional seeking to represent a debtor under Bankruptcy Code section 327(a) must not hold an interest adverse to the bankruptcy estate and must be disinterested. A debtor’s insiders often cannot satisfy these tests. The Bankruptcy Code defines “insider” to include a “relative” of the debtor. And a “relative” is someone related to the debtor “within the third degree as determined by the common law." What does this latter phrase mean and how is it applied? In a recent case, a chapter 11 debtor sought to employ an accounting firm under section 327(a). The principal of the accounting firm was the first cousin of the owner of the debtor corporation. The U.S. Trustee objected to the retention, arguing that the debtor’s cousin was an...

New Executive Order Regarding IRA Enhancements

Introduction On April 30, 2026, President Trump signed an Executive Order (the “Order”) designed to expand access to retirement savings for the tens of millions of American workers who currently lack employer-sponsored retirement plans, including many small-business employees, part-time workers, independent contractors, and self-employed individuals facing barriers to saving for retirement. The Order is designed to complement the Federal Saver's Match enacted under the SECURE 2.0 Act, which provides eligible workers with a federal matching contribution of up to $1,000 for retirement savings, and to promote high-quality, low-cost individual retirement account (“IRA”) access. Key Provisions and Implications The Order directs the Secretary of the Treasury (the “Secretary”) to establish, by January 1, 2027, an informational website (TrumpIRA.gov) that will serve as a...

Firm Achieves Significant Lanham Act Win for Johnson & Johnson

On April 17, 2026, Patterson Belknap secured a significant victory for our clients, Johnson & Johnson and Janssen Biotech, Inc. (“J&J”), when the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York denied a preliminary injunction in a Lanham Act suit filed by Bayer HealthCare LLC (“Bayer”). The dispute concerned a retrospective scientific study sponsored by J&J that compared the real-world efficacy of both companies’ prostate cancer medications, concluding that J&J’s ERLEADA was associated with a reduction in overall risk of death approximately 50% greater than Bayer’s NUBEQA. Bayer alleged that the study was methodologically flawed, and that J&J’s publication of the study results therefore constituted “false advertising.” The statements at issue included a presentation given by the study authors at a medical...

Bankruptcy Court Denies Motions to Convert Case and to Appoint an Examiner

A bankruptcy judge has ruled that a debtor can satisfy the Bankruptcy Code’s rehabilitation standard by selling its assets as a going concern and thereby avoid conversion from chapter 11 to chapter 7. In the same decision, the court denied a motion seeking the appointment of what the movants called an “examiner with expanded powers.” In re Deqser, LLC, Case No. 25-10687, 2026 Bankr. LEXIS 1004 (Bankr. D. Del. Apr. 22, 2026). The debtors operated a laundry business that serviced hotels located in New York City. The business suffered a downturn following an electrical fire at its facility as well as problems with its software. The debtors filed chapter 11 in early 2025. During their case, the debtors lost about $200,000 a...

Firm Partners to Speak at American Conference Institute's 2026 Biosimilars & Innovator Biologics Conference

On Tuesday, June 2 and Wednesday, June 3, 2026, Partners Jay Cho and Aron Fischer will speak at the American Conference Institute's 2026 Biosimilars & Innovator Biologics Conference, the premier forum for biosimilars strategy, innovation, and litigation trends. On June 2 at 12:00pm, Mr. Cho will speak on a panel titled "The Evolving Parameters of the Safe Harbor Defense to Patent Infringement: Excluded Activities and the 'Reasonably Related' Standard." He will join Eric W. Dittmann (Partner, Paul Hastings), James T. Evans, Ph.D. (Senior Director, Assistant General Counsel, Global IP Litigation, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.), and Henry Gu (SVP, Head of Intellectual Property, Zentalis Pharmaceuticals) for a discussion on critical elements of the Safe Harbor defense and recent case law. On June 3 at 2:00pm, Mr....

Stephanie Glaser to Speak at American Conference Institute's 6th Annual Summit for Women Leaders in IP Law

On Wednesday, June 3, Counsel Stephanie Bunting Glaser will speak on a program at the American Conference Institute's 6th Annual Summit for Women Leaders in IP Law titled "Copyrights in Synthetic Media: Protecting Creativity in the AI Era." Ms. Glaser will join Emily Lanza (Senior Counsel, U.S. Copyright Office, Office of Policy & International Affairs) to explore new challenges created by artificial intelligence in copyright law and offer strategies for safeguarding creative assets. To learn more, please click here.

SEC Enforcement Results for FY 2025: “Unique Period of Transition”

The Securities and Exchange Commission issued a press release on April 7, 2026, announcing the agency’s enforcement results for transitional period under the new presidential administration.[1] Describing FY 2025 as “a unique period of transition,” the statement pointed to a pulse of enforcement actions initiated between October and December 2024 [2] under outgoing SEC Chair Gary Gensler, critiquing the activity as “unprecedented rush” and the focus as an “aggressive pursuit of novel legal theories.”[3]. Current SEC Chair Paul S. Atkins described the shift as having “redirected resources toward the types of misconduct that inflict the greatest harm—particularly fraud, market manipulation, and abuses of trust.”[4] During FY 2025, the SEC brought 303 standalone enforcement actions, a combination of civil suits and administrative procedures that...