Allan graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1978 after receiving his B.A. degree summa cum laude from Cornell, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Pi Lambda Phi. In more than 44 years as an attorney, Allan has had extensive trial experience, including successfully trying to conclusion some of the largest equitable distribution cases in New York.
Allan is a past President of the New York Chapter of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and served as counsel to the AAML. He is also a member of the International Academy of Family Lawyers, the American College of Family Trial Lawyers, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, the New York State Bar Association (Executive Committee of the Family Law Section) and the American Bar Association. He also is a past member of the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers Foundation and served as counsel to the Foundation as well. Allan served as a member of the Matrimonial Commission that was appointed by Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye to study matrimonial law reform. The Commission’s findings were reported in February 2006 and were the basis for improving litigation in both Family Court and the Supreme Court. Allan has lectured and written on numerous topics in the area of family law.
Allan has also been appointed on several occasions by the New York State Supreme Court to conduct neutral evaluations of cases in an effort to reach settlement and he has conducted mediations for that purpose at the request of litigants. He has also been appointed to act as discovery master in complex financial cases.