Brendan P. Kelleher, Partner, Returns to Hodgson Russ

Hodgson Russ announces Brendan P. Kelleher will return to Hodgson Russ after serving as general counsel to the City of Buffalo School District. He will serve as a partner in the law firm’s Buffalo office in the Education Law, Labor & Employment, Employment Litigation, and Municipal Law Practice Groups, effective November 28, 2011.   For more than 10 years, Mr. Kelleher has regularly represented public and private sector employers in federal and New York State courts, before the New York State Division of Human Rights, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the United States Department of Labor, the New York State Department of Labor, and other administrative agencies.    Aside from working to solve employers’ problems once they enter into litigation, Mr. Kelleher regularly counsels employers about their rights and obligations under various federal and state labor and employment laws in an effort to avoid litigation where at all possible.  Mr. Kelleher also regularly advises employers regarding employee disciplinary issues, terminations, and employee investigations, and often drafts employment and separation agreements.   Mr. Kelleher devotes a substantial portion of his practice to advising school district clients. From September 2010 to November 2011, Mr. Kelleher served as general counsel to the City of Buffalo School District, where he advised the board of education, the superintendent, and senior administrators regarding the legal needs of a district that includes 34,000 students and 6,500 employees.   Gary M. Schober, president and CEO of Hodgson Russ, said, “We are delighted to welcome Brendan back to Hodgson Russ. His time away in the public sector has only served to sharpen his already finely honed legal skills, which will benefit not just his school district clients, but the full range of clients he serves.”   Mr. Schober continued, “With Western New York’s largest and fastest-growing education law practice, the addition of Brendan will only enhance our 40-plus-year history of helping our school clients establish the best possible educational and work environments.”