Vaughan Baio & Partners was featured in the article, “Vaughan Baio Snags 9 From Goldberg Segalla, Grows In NY,” that appeared in Law360 on August 11. The article reported the news that Zachary H. Pratt and Tracey A. McLean, will head the team of new attorneys in the firm’s new offices in Albany and Syracuse.
Bola Awujoola, John W. Becker and Susan Biggins Owens joined as partners, and Robert S. Smith joined as an associate in Albany. Partners Claire T. Brookins, Cory A. DeCresenza and Kelly O’Connor will work out of the Syracuse office. All the attorneys practice in workers’ compensation and employment law.
“We are very pleased to welcome these talented and insightful attorneys to Vaughan Baio, “Joseph E. Vaughan, one of the firm’s founding partners, said in the statement. “With them leading our expansion in New York State, we look forward to providing employers with the thoughtful and strategic counsel and representation they will need to face the novel challenges that lie ahead.”
Madeline S. Baio, the firm’s other founder, said she has been thirsty for growth, but “for the right reasons, with the right people, in the right places and at the right time.”
“We are thrilled to have Zach and Tracey’s team join us,” Baio told Law360 in an email. ” Not only will they help us succeed with our overall expansion efforts, but they are a perfect fit with our firm culture and client-centric way of doing things. We look forward to working with them and continuing to enhance the services we are able to provide to our clients in [New York] with additional new hires in the coming months.”
Vaughan Baio, which represents clients ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies, also has an office in Delaware and two more in Pennsylvania. [The firm also opened an office in Baltimore earlier this year and plans are underway to open offices in Garden City, NY and Morgantown, WV later this year.]
Pratt has extensive experience representing employers, insurance carriers and third-party administrators before the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board and in traditional federal workers’ compensation litigation, the firm said.
McLean has nearly three decades of experience defending employers, insurance carriers and third-party administrators in workers’ compensation claims across New York State. She has handled multiple injury and occupational disease claims and in various types of work settings, the firm said.
“I joined [Vaughan Baio] because I saw the opportunity for me to return to my roots, and be the kind of lawyer that drew me, and my like-minded colleagues who joined with me, to this profession in the first place: focusing on the specific needs of a client, knowing that client’s history and developing a trusting, enduring relationship with them, and taking pride in the service I am able to provide to them,” McLean told Law360 in an email.
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