Top Best Construction Accident Lawyers | 7756 Available

With a practice that focuses on workers’ compensation defense, Thais Rodriguez has experience litigating all types of workers’ compensation cases before the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board, as well as negotiating and preparing settlement agreements. She handles all aspects of workers’ compensation litigation, involving depositions, trials, drafting and submitting appeals and other court or Board correspondence.. Thais received her juris doctor from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, where she served as a teaching assistant for Legal Research and Writing and Title Editor of the Detroit Mercy Law Review.. After graduating magna cum laude from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law in 2010, Thais held judicial clerkships in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Family Division, and the Michigan Court of Appeals. As a research attorney and later a clerk for the Honorable Cynthia Stephens in Michigan, she drafted both unpublished and published opinions (majority, concurrence, and/or dissent), orders, and memoranda on various complex legal issues raised by appellants.

Meghan Brown is an associate in the firm’s Buffalo office. She focuses her practice on general liability, including matters involving personal injury, medical malpractice, and occupational exposures.. Meghan’s experience includes private practice in civil litigation and serving for two years as a law clerk at the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Fourth Department, in Rochester. During law school, she was Executive Editor of the Buffalo Law Review and Articles Editor of the Buffalo Intellectual Property Law Journal, and she was a member of the Jessup International Moot Court Board, and upon graduation earned the Robert J. Connelly award for excellence in trial technique. After law school, she received a prestigious Appellate Court Attorney clerkship with the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Fourth Department.. She has lectured on legal ethics for the Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York and has also served on the Judiciary Committee for the Western New York Chapter. She is an adjunct professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo, where she teaches health law. She has also given CLEs on subjects including legal ethics, appellate practice, and the Affordable Care Act, for the WNY Trial Lawyers Association, the Women's Bar Association of the State of New York, the New York State Bar Association, and the Defense Trial Lawyers Association.

Mr. Michalak provides HoganWillig with invaluable experience in the large field of construction law. He represents contractors and surety companies in contract negotiations, public bidding issues, risk management and claim prosecution and defense; he also represents business clients in structuring business and shareholder relationships, succession planning, real estate development and commercial leases; finally, he regularly represents individuals in mediation, arbitration, and litigation.. In addition to his Doctor of Jurisprudence, Mr. Michalak has degrees in mechanical and chemical engineering and has held engineering positions in county government and a Fortune 500 company. Mr. Michalak has been a business law lecturer at the University of Buffalo and a speaker and author for various organizations including the American Bar Association. He is currently a member of the Board of Governors of the Construction Exchange of Buffalo & WNY, a not-for-profit organization that provides information, education, and communication for the Western New York construction industry.

Christopher Belter, a senior trial partner at Goldberg Segalla, dedicates his practice to resolving complex commercial, construction, and intellectual property disputes. He has represented clients in courts and arbitration forums in more than a dozen states over the course of his two-decade career, during which he has taken more than 100 trials and arbitrations to verdict or award. He is the chair of Goldberg Segalla’s Corporate Services and Commercial Litigation Practice Group, a team of 50-plus lawyers practicing across the firm's entire footprint, and chair of its 40-member Construction Practice Group.. In the commercial litigation arena, for which he and his team are recognized in the Chambers USA Upstate New York directory, Chris has achieved successful outcomes for a broad range of companies in complex disputes involving contractual relationships, misappropriation and fraudulent conveyance, commercial leases, licensing, claims of tortious interference, and other issues. He also defends directors and officers in matters involving allegations of breach of fiduciary duty, negligence, and bad faith, as well as claims brought by the FDIC and the SEC.. With experience handling dozens of cases involving claims of trademark and copyright infringement, he is particularly adept at helping companies enforce their intellectual property rights and protect their invaluable brands.. In construction litigation, an area for which he is listed in the Best Lawyers in America, Chris handles breach of contract, delay and acceleration, design and construction defect, performance and payment bond, and other high-value claims for contractors, construction managers, and others in connection with large-scale private and public construction projects. He has extensive experience with complex litigation and alternative dispute resolution involving major solar, wind, and other renewable energy projects.. He is a longstanding member of the Commercial Litigation Steering Committee at the Defense Research Institute (DRI), the largest organization of defense attorneys in the country, and a past national chair of its Construction Committee. He co-authored the New York chapter in DRI’s Construction Litigation Desk Reference: A State-by-State Compendium, and he is a frequent speaker to national audiences on minimizing damages in contract disputes, litigation strategies in lawsuits combining business tort and intellectual property claims, and other topics in his areas of concentration.. Experience HighlightsCommercial LitigationDefending at trial in the Delaware Court of Chancery a corporation’s directors and officers against breach of fiduciary duty and more than 10 other claims brought by certain shareholders over a disputed business mergerObtaining for an owner of music royalties a rare multimillion-dollar recovery in a complex misappropriation and fraudulent conveyance action that reached across both domestic and foreign jurisdictionsDefending a $13 million commercial claim against a top soft drink manufacturer over the termination of a New York City distribution routeDefending a multimillion-dollar breach of contract and improper termination claim brought by a studio owner against the producer of a major-network television showDefending the manufacturer of one of the world’s most popular sport drinks against a competitor’s $15 million tortious interference claimDefeating through motion practice an injunction that sought to shut down six major metropolitan locations of a national pizza chainObtaining summary judgment for a construction supply manufacturer on complex warranty claims for roofing materialsSuccessfully guiding a value-added reseller of a major software suite through investigations conducted by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Department of Defense, and other entities following the acquisition of the software developer by a computer industry giantDefeating through motion practice a prospective class action alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Construction LitigationSecuring a $70 million arbitration award for a national renewable energy contractor in a complex construction development dispute that involved issues of public bond and federal grant financing, construction delays and design deficiencies, claims of liquidated and consequential damages, and construction trust fund misappropriation; the award was rendered after extensive litigation and two months of arbitration hearingsRecovering through arbitration more than $4 million for a wind energy transmission contractor in a case involving major change order and delay and acceleration claims related to a stormRepresenting a pipeline installation contractor in disputes totaling over $100 million involving natural gas pipelines serving the hydrofracking industry; the case involves major delay claims, back-charge claims related to earth-slips, and complex and novel issues regarding the scope of the lien lawRepresenting a construction manager in an arbitration arising out of claims asserted by a private university for construction defects involving masonry, roof, and building envelope issuesObtaining summary judgment in favor of a commercial financer of hotels and resorts in a multimillion-dollar dispute over the financing arrangement for the construction of a timeshare property. Intellectual Property LitigationDefending a modeling agency in a jury trial in the Southern District of New York against copyright infringement and tortious interference claims brought by a photographer seeking over $10 million in damagesDefending a regional craft brewery against claims of trademark infringement from a nationally distributing breweryRepresenting a major tobacco company in a trademark infringement case against sellers of counterfeit cigarettes, resulting in the successful seizure of all counterfeit product, recovery of several hundred thousand dollars in statutory damages, and a permanent injunction

As a member of the firm’s Business and Commercial Practice Group, James Macri focuses his practice on helping a range of commercial clients find innovative, cost-effective ways to resolve their legal disputes through strategies that include litigation, arbitration, or mediation.. James handles a wide variety of matters for commercial developers and other clients in the construction industry, including complex construction defect claims and contract disputes, among others. He also resolves difficult landlord/tenant disputes and handles franchising and licensing issues for clients in the sports and entertainment and hospitality industries. He is a regular contributor to the firm’s Sports and Entertainment Law Insider blog, and frequently writes on matters pertaining to his legal practice.. While earning his J.D. at the State University of New York at Buffalo Law School, James was a judicial intern for the Niagara County Court, where he wrote opinions for criminal and civil appeals and participated in court proceedings and conferences. James finished in the top 10 percent of his class and served as executive business editor for the Intellectual Property Law Journal.. He also received a Master of Business Administration degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo, finishing in the top 10 percent of his class.

Albert D’Aquino is one of Goldberg Segalla’s founding partners and Co-Chair of its General Liability Practice Group,  one of the firm’s largest practice groups. A seasoned trial lawyer who has served clients throughout New York for more than 30 years, Al tries — and wins — cases against the most experienced and respected plaintiffs’ attorneys in the state. He brings a goal-oriented approach to pre-trial and trial proceedings, which stands as a hallmark of his proactive, cost-effective litigation style. Within the firm, Al uses the keen insight he has gained through his decades of experience in the state and federal courtrooms of New York to teach trial technique to associates across the firm’s footprint.. In his multi-faceted law practice, Al successfully defends clients in complex product liability and premises and construction site personal injury litigation (involving New York State Labor Law). He has also represented hundreds of attorneys and physicians, as well as major pharmacy chain and other health care clients, in high-stakes malpractice litigation, and he represents insured and self-insured trucking common carriers and private fleets. Al also defends clients embroiled in catastrophic injury litigation, such as multiple-fatality auto and serious industrial accidents, and is regularly called upon to parachute into existing cases specifically for trial.