Bransten was born on December 11, 1942, two years after her aunt and uncle died in an automobile accident.
[5][6] From 1979 to 1984, Bransten served in the Queens County District Attorney’s Office, and after that was in the private practice of law as a solo practitioner for seven years.
In Manhattan's Commercial Division,[10] the amount in controversy must exceed $500,000 for a case to be heard in that court.
"The caseload of the Division is ... very demanding, requiring of the court scholarship in commercial law, experience in the management of complex cases, and a wealth of energy.
[1] Some of the notable cases over which Bransten presided include: the child custody dispute involving Revlon billionaire Ronald O. Perelman;[2] fraud claims against Countrywide Financial and Bank of America arising out of the mortgage backed securities crisis of the mid-2000s;[16] challenges to largest ever (at the time) arbitration awards involving securities futures;[17] a lawsuit involving Hexion Specialty Chemicals financing of its takeover bid for the Huntsman Corporation;[18] a dispute over the application of a New York State sales tax law on Amazon;[19] a suit by professional golfer Vijay Singh against the PGA Tour;[20] an investor suit against Outcome Health and its principals Rishi Shah and Shradha Agarwal;[21] litigation over the restructuring of paper maker Norske Skogindustrier ASA;[22] and a suit by Norex Petroleum Ltd. against Leonard Blavatnik and Victor Vekselberg over control of a Siberian oil field.
[23] In 2018, Bransten read aloud her 40-page legal opinion, in a case involving art looted by the Nazis, saying, among other things: "'New York is not and shall not become a safe harbour for [art pillaged] during Nazi genocide....'"[24][25] Bransten and her husband volunteered at the Blessed Sacrament Soup Kitchen for decades.