- Peter T. Rodgers, Partner
Mr. Rodgers is the Managing Partner of the firm and is known for his advocacy in the medical malpractice and personal injury cases. He is listed in Best Lawyers in America, is an Advocate in the American Board of Trial Advocates, holds an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell, has served as a Trustee of the Monroe County Bar Association and as Chair of the Courts Committee, and is a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum which is limited to lawyers who have demonstrated exceptional skill, experience and excellence in advocacy.
- Karen Schaefer, Partner
Ms. Schaefer is a member of the Management Committee of the firm. She represents clients in developing a comprehensive estate plan, which balances financial and tax implications with family and business realities and objectives. She counsels her clients on all aspects of trusts and estates matters. Her perspective of both business and estate planning enables her to counsel clients engaged in business succession planning. She is listed in Best Lawyers of America and Super Lawyers and speaks for many New York State and Monroe County Bar seminars and professional and community groups.
- Lawrence J. Schwind, Partner
Mr. Schwind is a member of the Management Committee. He is also the resident partner responsible for the operation of the firm's Greece and Hilton satellite offices where he maintains a general legal practice, providing professional services and counsel on a wide variety of legal matters. Mr. Schwind devotes a substantial portion of his practice to domestic and family law matters. Mr. Schwind is also the attorney for the Village of Hilton.
- David E. Anderson, Partner
Mr. Anderson is the Chair of our Trusts and Estates Department. He represents clients in developing a comprehensive estate plan, which balances financial, legal and tax implications with personal and family goals and objectives. He counsels his clients on all aspects of trusts, estates and elder law matters.
- Craig R. Welch, Partner
Mr. Welch is the Chair of our Corporate, Business and Banking Law Department. Mr. Welch has been practicing law for more than 30 years, and represents clients who have diverse needs that typically involve issues from a variety of practice areas. In representing his clients, Mr. Welch is able to provide his business and individual clients with a high level of counseling due to his extensive experience in so many areas of the law. He is the resident attorney at our Canandaigua office.
- Christopher B. Mumford, Partner
Mr. Mumford has been practicing law for more than 40 years. His varied legal experience includes representing clients in Real Estate, Business and Estates and Trusts. He is the resident attorney in our Ontario office.
- Terrance W. Emmens, Partner
Mr. Emmens is the Chair of the Marketing Committee of the firm. He represents clients developing a comprehensive plan that preserves wealth for his clients. He is a frequent lecturer on Elder Law issues and specifically, the lawful rules surrounding Medicaid transfers. He has been a guest speaker to numerous New York State Bar Associations and Monroe County Bar Association sponsored Continuing Legal Education.
- Mark H. Stein, Partner
Mr. Stein has been a practicing attorney in collections and evictions for over 10 years. Mr. Stein is a partner in the Collection Department of the firm which is known for the returns that we obtain for our clients. He has been responsible for obtaining and keeping several national and regional clients.
- Jacqueline M. Thomas, Partner
Ms. Thomas is a Partner in our Litigation Group and is Chair of the firm's Litigation Department. She has been a trial attorney for over 18 years. Her practice is focused upon civil litigation including personal injury, medical malpractice, nursing home negligence, wrongful death, dog bites, commercial and estate litigation. Ms Thomas also represents insurance policy holders in coverage dispute litigation against their insurance companies. She has achieved the Martindale-Hubbell "Distinguished Attorney" rating and has been listed in Who's Who in American Law as well as Who's Who Among Executives and Professional Women. She is the Chair of our Risk Management Committee and has an understanding of contingency planning issues.
- Matthew A. Ryen, Partner
Mr. Ryen enjoys working with individuals and businesses in a variety of legal matters. He draws on significant experience in corporate and real estate transactions as well as his knowledge of debtor creditor law. This depth of knowledge in both the transactional arena and the rights of creditors helps Mr. Ryen provide his clients with a high level of counseling that benefits his clients in business acquisition, financing, municipal, development initiatives, or the formation of business alliances.
- Jennifer L. Chadwick, Partner
Ms. Chadwick counsels businesses and their owners in matters involving general corporate, employment, contracts, mergers and acquisitions, financing matters and shareholder and member disputes. Ms. Chadwick also counsels financial institutions in commercial loan transactions, compliance issues and creditors' rights matters. Her goal is to provide clients with enthusiastic, efficient and skilled representation.
- Daniel S. Bryson, Partner
Mr. Bryson is the Chair of the Municipal Law Practice Group of the firm. Mr. Bryson has been practicing law in the Rochester area for more than 15 years. During that time, he has represented clients in a myriad of legal areas. His primary areas of practice include municipal and real estate law especially regarding corporate issues.
- John T. Refermat, Partner
Mr. Refermat is an experienced litigator whose practice includes complex civil and commercial litigation, real property tax certiorari/eminent domain, zoning and municipal/land use litigation, and environmental matters. Mr. Refermat also has experience in securities arbitration and construction litigation. An experienced appellate advocate, Mr. Refermat has successfully prepared and argued appeals before New York's Appellate Division and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second circuit.
- Francesco Fabiano, Partner
Mr. Fabiano specializes in Creditor's Rights, Commercial Law, Creditor-Debtor Law and complex litigation, representing many national as well as regional and local clients in all aspects of Creditor-Debtor Law. This includes pre-suit planning, mitigation of losses and representation of clients in all aspects of alleged violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
- Lisa C. Arrington, Partner
Ms. Arrington currently serves clients in the areas of Elder Law,
Medicaid Planning and Estate Planning. She has previously practiced in
the area of Corporate Labor Law. Ms. Arrington has been accredited to
present claims for Veterans' Benefits before the Department of Veteran's
Affairs.
- David D. MacKnight, Associate
The majority of Mr. MacKnight's practice has been concentrated in insolvency related work for consumer and business debtors in both liquidation and reorganization. He represents creditors, both secured and unsecured, in consumer and business cases. Mr. MacKnight provides all bankruptcy related services to four credit unions with assets ranging from $50 million to one billion dollars. Mr. MacKnight has briefed and argued numerous appeals, principally bankruptcy related, in both the District Court and the Court of Appeals. His services include work on matters focused by other attorneys and consulting with other attorneys on bankruptcy related matters. Mr. MacKnight is listed in Best Lawyers of America.
- Joanne Constantino, Associate
Ms. Constantino represents clients concentrating on Estate and Trust Administration and income taxes. She particularly enjoys the tax accounting involved in estates and trusts.
- Timothy C. Muck, Associate
Mr. Muck represents clients in developing comprehensive and proactive strategies to achieve family and business planning objectives while minimizing emotional, tax and financial challenges. He counsels clients on all aspects of business and trusts and estates matters. His background as a tax practitioner enables him to provide solutions for entrepreneurial clients seeking harmonization of their estate and business succession plans.
- Robin L. Folts, Associate
Ms. Folts provides the elderly community with strategies to formulate Medicaid plans that meet their individual economic goals and estate planning goals. She has experience in creditors' rights issues and real estate. She has broad experience in complex lender work-outs and traveled extensively to work out large commercial debts including selling real estate owned assets and other collateral located in the continental United States, in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
- John M. Wells, Associate
Mr. Wells practices in the areas of commercial and civil litigation. He has represented clients in medical malpractice claims, personal injury claims, social security disability claims and workers' compensation claims.
- Michael Wegman, Associate
Mr. Wegman practices in the areas of civil litigation, personal injury and land use litigation. He joins the Firm after two years as Appellate Court Attorney Appellate Court Attorney for the Appellate Division, Fourth Department. Mr. Wegman is a graduate of Syracuse University College of Law where he was an Associate Editor of the Journal of International Law and Commerce.
- Leon Katzen, Senior Counsel
Mr. Katzen, one of two co-founders of Lacy Katzen LLP, started this law firm in 1950. His vision was to create a regional, full service firm that represented each client with unmatched advocacy. The firm evolved to approximately 75 persons today.
- Louis A. Ryen, Senior Counsel
Mr. Ryen, a highly experienced attorney, has spent more than 50 years serving clients in Bankruptcies, objections to discharges, reaffirmations, Chapters 7, 11 and 13, consumer and business reorganizations, commercial recoveries, workouts and insolvencies and collections (commercial and consumer), as well as Creditors' Rights matters. Simultaneously, for 30 years during that period, he had processed thousands of cases while acting as a court appointed Bankruptcy Trustee.
- Michael S. Schnittman, Of Counsel
Michael Schnittman is known for his wise counsel to clients and other
attorneys in the collections arena. The department has a reputation for
both great ratios of return on portfolios and service and depth of
knowledge the team is able to provide to our clients. He was a member
of the Board of Trustees and Chair of the Professional Performance
Committee.
- Mary V. Fisher, Of Counsel Partner
Ms. Fisher has concentrated her practice in the areas of estate and tax planning, and estate and trust administration. She has lectured to professionals and lay groups on various topics including use of the revocable living trust, methods of planned giving, estate tax planning and New York Living Wills and Health Care Proxies.
- Robert M.Vigdor, Of Counsel
Mr. Vigdor practices in the area of residential and commercial real estate including the sale, purchase, financing, development and leasing of properties. He has represented clients in numerous zoning and planning matters. He has represented lenders in financing transactions and has conducted commercial foreclosures in workouts on behalf of lenders. Mr. Vigdor also has experience in mortgage banking and brokering matters including issues relating to licensing and regulatory compliance.