October 17, 2018"”Barclay Damon announces seven attorneys have joined the firm's Trust & Estate Practice Area, effective October 15, 2018. They are Karen Schaefer, Terry Emmens, Lisa Arrington, and Tim Muck, as partners, and associates Rachelle Nuhfer, Kelly Gusmano, and Mathew Eaves. The group was with the Rochester-based firm Lacy Katzen LLP and is accompanied by three paralegals and two legal assistants.
The team brings decades of experience in business succession planning, estate planning, elder law, including Medicaid, and special needs planning. Their strengths across these areas include deep knowledge of applicable federal, state, and multi-jurisdictional tax planning opportunities and techniques. In the elder law area, they excel in crafting long-term care solutions that include asset protection strategies, Community Medicaid, and home care plans. All work collaboratively and successfully with clients' family members, financial advisors, accountants, business owners, and health care and other service providers.
"We are thrilled to welcome our new partners and co-workers to an already strong trusts and estates practice at the firm," John Langan, Barclay Damon's managing partner, said. "Our clients will immediately see the benefits of the depth and experience the enhanced team will provide in these critical areas that are evolving due to changing laws. In addition, new clients joining the firm as part of the transaction will have access to the depth and breadth of Barclay Damon's 33 practice areas and geographical footprint that stretches across New York State and into the Northeast US and Toronto."
Jennifer Flannery, Barclay Damon's Trusts & Estates Practice Area co-chair, added, "In the current environment of ever-changing laws, our clients rely more than ever on our team's proficiencies. We're honored to guide our clients through critical areas of their lives, including areas where business and family situations intersect. The strengths of our newest team members are a great complement to our established group of practitioners at Barclay Damon."
Co-chair Marcy Robinson Dembs, agreed, noting that "the firm's clients appreciate Barclay Damon's cross-practice understanding of their often-complicated tax and family situations." She continued, "Karen, Terry, Lisa, Tim, and our other valued new colleagues have the skills and experience to solve the most difficult estate planning and elder care problems for their clients."
"We are delighted to join Barclay Damon," Schaefer said. "To be part of a firm with its breadth and depth of practice capabilities is a perfect fit for us and for our clients, especially in key areas such as tax law, corporate, mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property, labor and employment, and health care and human services." Schaefer, a former longstanding member of Lacy Katzen's management committee and leader of the firm's trusts and estates and business succession practice, will join Flannery and Dembs as a practice area co-chair in running the substantially expanded Trusts & Estates Practice Area at Barclay Damon.
"On the practice area level, we're proud to join a trusts and estates team that is known for the seamless, confidential, and comprehensive guidance its clients receive," Emmens said, "as well as to be part of the firm's notable continuing growth."
Langan noted, "In addition to strengthening our trusts and estates practice, adding these attorneys to our Rochester office furthers the firm's strategic goals by bringing the attorney count in this location to nearly 40 lawyers, returning it to its role as one of the five largest law firm offices in the Rochester market."
After forming in 2015 through the combination of Hiscock & Barclay, LLP and Damon Morey LLP, Barclay Damon has continued to evolve by adding, in addition to individual and small groups of attorneys, the energy-environmental firm Gilberti, Stinziano, Heintz & Smith, P.C. in 2017 and the leading commercial bankruptcy firm Menter, Rudin & Trivelpiece, P.C. earlier this year. The firm has a robust lateral-recruitment program focused on successfully attracting, onboarding, and integrating talented lawyers, driving its growth from 50 to nearly 300 attorneys over the last two decades.
Barclay Damon attorneys team across offices and practices to provide customized, targeted solutions grounded in industry knowledge and a deep understanding of our clients' businesses. With nearly 300 attorneys, Barclay Damon is a leading regional law firm that operates from a strategic platform of offices located in the Northeastern United States and Toronto.