Hodgson Russ Announces Six Newly Elected Partners Twelve Attorneys Promoted to Senior Associate

Hodgson Russ, one of the country’s leading law firms providing business-focused legal counsel to market-leading and emerging enterprises, governmental entities, nonprofit institutions, and individuals across the United States, Canada, and the world, has elected six attorneys to the firm’s partnership, effective January 1, 2016.  All are resident in the firm’s Buffalo headquarters. They are:

James M. Bandoblu, Jr., a member of the Tax Dispute Resolution, International Tax, and Business Tax Practices, focuses his practice on federal and international tax matters.  Jim regularly represents clients before the IRS and state taxing authorities, from audit to administrative appeal, and before the U.S. Tax Court, to favorably resolve their tax controversies. He also counsels clients, including those with foreign bank accounts, with respect to voluntary disclosure options at the federal and state levels. In addition, Jim advises on structuring of cross-border transactions and operations, treaty issues, and the tax implications of U.S. citizenship and lawful permanent resident status. 

Elizabeth K. Buscaglia,a member of the firm’s Immigration Practice, has extensive experience counseling multinational corporations and other businesses on immigration matters for both nonimmigrant (L-1, E-1/E-2, H-1B, O, TN) and immigrant (PERM, Outstanding Researcher, and Persons of Extraordinary Ability) workers.  She has unique experience counseling financial institutions on immigration issues related to intracompany transfer petitions, North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) applications, investor visa petitions, and employment-based preference petitions for multinational managers and executives.  Liz has represented foreign corporations of all sizes expanding or relocating to the United States, and has experience counseling foreign physicians on J-1 visa waiver applications including Conrad Waivers, National Interest Waiver petitions, O-1 petitions, and labor certification cases.

Jessica L. Copeland, a member of the firm’s Business Litigation and Intellectual Property Litigation Practices, represents her clients in all aspects of business disputes, with a particular focus on intellectual property and environmental litigation. Jessica also provides counsel to her clients on avoiding litigation by resolving business disputes before they rise to the level of arbitration or litigation. Particular to her IP litigation experience, Jessica’s practice includes protecting patents and trademarks in federal and appellate courts and before the International Trade Commission for clients in industries such as medical and mechanical devices, computer software and hardware, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, and e-commerce technologies. Jessica’s experience in appellate work includes argument before the Federal Circuit. Additionally, Jessica has experience handling the transactional aspects of intellectual property, including drafting and negotiating licenses, preparing and prosecuting trademark applications, preparing opinions, and conducting due diligence investigations.

Alfonzo I. Cutaia, a member of the firm’s Intellectual Property & Technology Practice, focuses on patent practice in the general electrical, software, and mechanical arts, as well as trademark and copyright prosecution. His practice covers a number of technical disciplines, including electronics, software, mobile devices, spintronics, medical devices, dental devices, optics, metrology, industrial mechanical systems, and business methods. Before attending law school, he worked for 14 years at Electronic Data Systems, where he was responsible for software development for engineering systems and client/server development and management.

John M. Godwin focuses his practice on management-side labor and employment law as well as employment tax law. He assists employers with wage and hour matters arising under federal, state, and local laws, including audits and class and collective actions, all aspects of worker classification, and federal and state Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act planning and litigation, in addition to compliance with, and defense of claims arising under, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the equal employment opportunity laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and corresponding state and local laws. John also regularly advises clients regarding restrictive covenants, commission and incentive compensation plans, paid time off obligations, employment policies and practices, discipline and discharge matters, workers’ compensation coverage and premium issues, and unemployment insurance audits and appeals.

Paul J. Roman, Jr., a member of the firm’s Intellectual Property & Technology Practice, focuses on patentability evaluations, patent prosecution, post-grant challenges, and related opinion work in the chemical area and licensing. He works closely with clients to identify protectable IP and provides practical  advice to clients on protection of their IP and building and management of global IP portfolios. His areas of focus include inorganic materials, nanomaterials, inorganic/organic polymers, organometallic/coordination compounds, catalysts, biomaterials, biosensing technologies, pharmaceuticals (including small molecules and delivery methods), chemical processes, analytical methods, and food chemistry.

In addition, 12 attorneys have been promoted to senior associate. They are:

Melanie Beardsley, Labor & Employment Practice
Nathan Berti, Estates & Trusts Practice
Craig Fischer, Corporate & Business Law Practice
Jaclyn Hamlin, Labor & Employment Practice
Craig Lutterbein, Bankruptcy, Restructuring & Commercial Litigation Practice
Sarah Miller, Business Litigation Practice
Andrew Oppenheimer, Business Tax Practice
Erin Teske, Business Litigation Practice
Kathryn Tiskus, Business Litigation Practice
Jordan Walbesser, Intellectual Property & Technology Practice
Andrew Wright, State & Local Tax Practice
Eleanor Zimmerman, Corporate & Business Law Practice

Hodgson Russ attorneys facilitate the U.S. legal aspects of transactions around the world. We practice in every major area of law and use multidisciplinary work teams to serve the specific, often complex, needs of our clients, which include public and privately held businesses, governmental entities, nonprofit institutions, and individuals. Hodgson Russ has offices in Buffalo, New York City, Albany, and Saratoga Springs, New York; Toronto, Ontario; and Palm Beach, Florida.