Harter Secrest & Emery LLP, a law firm claimed to be within the 20 largest law firms in West New York, is expanding its base to Corning. The Rochester base firm has more than 300 employees and about 145 attorneys on its rolls. It has offices in Syracuse and Buffalo. The Buffalo office has more than 40 employees and 22 attorneys.
Harter Secrest is setting up a new office at 8 Denison Parkway in downtown Corning. Speaking on the move, Michael McEvoy, managing partner of HSE said, “Corning is an exciting growth market and we want to be a part of it … This will enhance the strong foundation we have established in Upstate New York and enable us to better serve our clients in the Southern Tier.”
The office will be led by Marc Romanowski, the leader of the law firm’s Energy Practice Group. Initially, the firm intends to start the office with 10 existing staff from its other offices, and then, if things go well, make further permanent recruitments for the Corning office.
Romanowski said, “We’re excited to meet the needs of the region, providing legal services locally for which clients previously had to look outside the area … The economic growth in the region is a perfect fit for our expertise in the energy and high-tech industries, along with our extensive environmental, land use and zoning experience.”
Roamnowski told that the firm decided to set up base in the Corning area because they found the region’s corporations were often choosing local operations. Buffalo Business First quoted Romanowski saying corporations in the area, “are used to hiring and choosing more sophisticated law firms. We fit that niche and will be able to do so at a more comfortable rate, an Upstate rate, rather than a downstate big-city firm rate.”