Christopher J. Baione

Christopher J. Baione is the founder and Managing Partner of Baione Law, a firm dedicated exclusively to representing victims before the federal September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. Since beginning his legal career in 2013, he has focused solely on VCF advocacy, giving him over a decade of experience within one of the most complex compensation systems in the country.

His connection to this work is personal. Christopher was named after his grandfather, FDNY Lieutenant Christopher J. Baione, who died of cancer attributed to inadequate safety regulations during the New York Telephone Company Fire. Born in Brooklyn and raised in Staten Island, he grew up two miles from the Fresh Kills Landfill and remembers neighbors — NYPD officers, FDNY firefighters, DSNY sanitation workers — returning home from Ground Zero and Fresh Kills during the recovery efforts. Years later, those same neighbors began developing respiratory illnesses, lung disease, and cancer. That history is why he has devoted his entire legal career to helping his neighbors and their families.

Christopher began his practice at Hansen & Rosasco, LLP, one of the nation's largest 9/11 firms, before co-founding Pitta & Baione LLP and helping build it into a leading practice in the field. Over the last decade, he has personally managed thousands of Zadroga Act claims and overseen the recovery of hundreds of millions of dollars for his clients, including $2 million for an NYPD officer suffering from disabling brain cancer and $1 million for the family of a Local 282 Teamster who suffered from disabling lung cancer. Over the course of that work, Christopher trained Sidrah Syed, who first joined him as his intern over ten years ago and has since become his partner at this firm, handling VCF claims and appeals together.

He founded Baione Law to combine that institutional experience with a more direct, client-focused model. Every client works directly with an attorney dedicated to VCF advocacy. Christopher meets clients in the firm's Manhattan and New Jersey offices, as well as in their homes or in hospitals when necessary.

Christopher's practice is distinguished by a technical approach to claim valuation. With a degree in finance and a background in computing, he independently audits VCF loss calculations, with particular focus on earnings projections and economic assumptions that directly impact award amounts. He has also developed customized automation systems across many of the industry's leading case management platforms to manage complex caseloads and maintain data accuracy across high volumes of claims.

Christopher regularly lectures to unions and community groups about 9/11 toxin exposure and the federal benefit programs available to those affected. He has been featured on NBC, the Staten Island Advance, the Chief Leader, LaborPress, 530AM The Mission, 970AM The Answer, World Journal, News India Times, and Sing Tao.

Christopher graduated magna cum laude in cursu honorum from the Peter J. Tobin College of Business at St. John's University with a degree in finance. While in college, he worked at Holland & Knight LLP under the mentorship of Frank G. Sinatra, a government relations attorney and bankruptcy trustee. He earned his J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law, where he was awarded a Presidential Scholarship and a Public Interest Fellowship. During law school, he interned at the Kings County District Attorney's Office and with New York State Supreme Court Justice Anthony J. Cutrona in the Mental Hygiene Court.

Christopher has been selected as a Super Lawyers Rising Star for nine consecutive years, received the Avvo Client's Choice Award in 2015 and 2016, and has been recognized in Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch for 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2026.