We are delighted to announce that Shane Finn was selected to the New York Metro Rising Stars list published by Super Lawyers for 2026.
Super Lawyers uses a rigorous, peer-influenced, research-driven selection process to identify the top 2.5% of attorneys in each geographic area who are either 40 years of age or younger, or who have been practicing for ten years or less. Being named a Rising Star means that Shane’s peers and the independent researchers at Super Lawyers have taken note and agreed that his work stands out.
We are not surprised. Whether he is schmoozing clerks in Bronx Surrogate’s Court or helping a client comply with onerous probation conditions, Shane has brought to our clients what principal attorney Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma described when welcoming him to the firm last year: “energy, spirit, good humor, and a profound commitment to justice.” He has focused on innocence investigations and appeals, taking the laboring oar in drafting complex briefs, making original legal arguments, and unearthing evidence to prove our clients’ innocence.
He is admitted to practice in the State of New York; the United States District Courts for the Southern, Eastern, and Western Districts of New York; and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
Shane came to ZMO Law with an unusual and accomplished background: before graduating from Columbia Law School’s LLM program in New York as a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, he read Law at Oxford University and served as “judicial assistant”—what we would call a law clerk—to the Hon. Mr. Justice Donal O’Donnell of the Supreme Court of Ireland. That combination, rigorous legal training at two of the world’s great universities and work with the highest level of the Irish judiciary, gives Shane a unique perspective on criminal law and civil rights in New York.
We believe in fighting for our clients—intellectually in our briefs, orally in the courtrooms, and through the care taken with the investigations we take on. Shane shares that belief; his selection as a Rising Star reflects the quality and dedication he brings to legal work every day. We are glad to see his work recognized. More important, we are glad our clients have him on their cases.