Charles R. Virginia

Charles is a founding partner of Virginia & Ambinder, LLP and serves as the partner in charge of commercial litigation and employee benefit plan litigation.

Charles graduated with honors in 1986 from Lehigh University, and received his J.D. in 1989 from Fordham University School of Law, where he was a member of Fordham Law Review. Charles then spent five years as a litigation associate at the prestigious Wall Street law firm Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, where he developed his litigation skills working on numerous high profile cases. Charles served on the defense team in the first hexavalent chromium exposure case ever taken to trial, and was also involved in litigation arising out of the 1989 Exxon Arthur Kill oil spill.

In 1994, Charles and Lloyd Ambinder co-founded Virginia & Ambinder, LLP. Charles has litigated hundreds of cases, including numerous high profile class actions. In one such class action, Charles was instrumental in achieving a settlement fund for the workers in excess of $12 million.

Charles represents commercial clients, workers, unions and multiemployer benefit plans in New York and New Jersey, and serves as local counsel to a number of international benefit funds. Charles advises a number of multiemployer benefit plans on all plan matters, including compliance, plan design, administration and fiduciary issues. The expertise gained by Charles in surety, lien and construction laws in the wage and hour arena facilitated his development of an ERISA collection practice for multiemployer plans that is second to none in efficiently and effectively pursuing recovery of delinquent employer and employee contributions.

Charles is a member of the New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania bars. Charles has published articles on labor law and ERISA issues and lectures for educational organizations.