In the immortal words of a former golf prodigy, “hello, world!”

I thought for my first blog entry I might fill in some of the details about who I am, where I am coming from and why I am choosing to open my own practice.

Well, I am a lifelong resident of the Rochester area. I grew up in Greece. My father worked at Kodak, my mother was a secretary at a high school. I have one younger brother (he’s in the garage door business – let me know if you have problems there). I went to the (now closed) Mother of Sorrows School, and after that I attended high school at Aquinas, something I am very proud of. I played hockey and baseball there and made a lot of friends I still keep in touch with to this day.

I always knew I wanted to be a lawyer, so I went to the University at Albany intending to take part in a program wherein I would complete college in three years then attend Albany Law School right after that. It took me about a week in college to realize that I was in no hurry to graduate early, so I took the traditional four-year route and graduated cum laude in 2000 with a degree in criminal justice and sociology. I was lucky enough to be able to play hockey in college also, and once again I made a lot of great friends there that I am still close with.

After that I came back closer to home and enrolled at the University at Buffalo Law School. I could not have picked a better place to go, for many reasons, not the least of which is that I got to go to tons of Bills and Sabres games. More seriously, however, I got a great education at a reasonable price, and once again I made many great friends. I graduated from UB Law in 2003.

My first job out of law school was at Woods Oviatt Gilman LLP in Rochester doing trusts and estates work. I stayed there for about a year until an opportunity arose to take a job at the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office. I started there in September, 2004. At the time, quite frankly, it was my dream job.

The DA’s Office was the place that I got to hone my trial skills for the next seven plus years. I was fortunate enough to ultimately be assigned to the Domestic Violence and Child Abuse Bureau, where I worked for three years beginning in 2007. It was the greatest honor of my career to work with such a dedicated group of professionals. We pushed each other every day to be the best advocates and trial lawyers we could be under very challenging circumstances. My supervisors included our newest Monroe County Cort Judge, Doug Randall, and the best trial lawyer I ever met, Kristina Karle. It was a place where I got to take my skills to a whole new level.

I was also fortunate to be assigned seven homicide cases over the course of my career at the DA’s Office. Six of those went to trial. I obtained guilty verdicts of one sort or another in all of them. One of them was a conviction for Murder in the First Degreee, a very rare type of case. My last homicide trial in September, 2011, resulted in a conviction and a nice front page story in the newspaper about the innovative audio-visual presentation I gave during my summation.

My last job posting at the DA’s Office was as a supervisor in the Local Courts Bureau, where I was responsible for supervising and training the newest ADAs in the office, the attorneys assigned to the various town and city courts in Monroe County. I was one of the youngest members of the office to ever be promoted to a supervisory position. I was honored to work with a great crop of young lawyers, and their energy and passion inspired me every day. I got back to dealing on a daily basis with some of our outstanding local judges and many members of the defense bar that I hadn’t been in touch with in years.

Then on Tuesday, November 29, 2011, I got fired by Mike Green and Sandra Doorley. Why? They didn’t say, other than to say that it wasn’t based on my job performance. I suspect that I was let go because they perceived I supported Ms. Doorley’s opponent in the recent election. They perceived correctly – I believed, and still believe, that our former County Attorney, and my good friend, Bill Taylor would have been the better choice. I was fired along with four other ADAs, each of whom I have the utmost respect for – Kristina Karle, Jason MacBride, Joe Waldorf and Paul Irving. Between the five of us was 49 years of prosecutorial experience. In my estimation, we were five of the best ten or so prosecutors in the office. I think a true leader would have tried to understand why people of that caliber didn’t support her, and then tried to heal that divide and move forward. Politics trumped performance, unfortunately.

But with that unpleasantness came a fantastic silver lining. My colleagues and I, the “fallen five” as one of my friends put it, have been blessed with such a tremendous outpouring of support and love from judges, other attorneys, law enforcement personnel, members of the media and others. Paul Irving keeps comparing it to the final scene in “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Merry Christmas indeed. It has been awesome to be a part of.

So that brings us to the present. Quite frankly, Monroe County’s loss is your gain. I’ve gotten to the stage in my career where I can say with confidence that I am very good at what I do. I always had it in the back of my mind to open my own practice, and now I get to do it. It’s very exciting for me and my family. I’m ready for the challenges ahead, and I am ready to start helping people find solutions to their legal problems.

My philosophy is this: no matter what your particular situation, there are options out there. I want to explore those options with you to arrive at the best possible outcome for you and your family. You may be sitting there reading this while at the same time very worried about what the future holds. You have questions, and you need answers. I know the legal community in this area, I know the law, and I know I can help you find those answers.

Get in touch with me – I’m here to help. I’m on your side.