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Dennis Vacco Joins Lippes Mathias
Well-known attorney
returns to Buffalo and leading firm
BUFFALO, NY Jan. 7, 2010 – Former New York Attorney General and U.S. Attorney for the Western District of New York Dennis C. Vacco today became a partner in the downtown law firm of Lippes Mathias Wexler Friedman LLP, formally returning to his Buffalo legal roots.
Vacco, among the highest-profile lawyers from Buffalo in recent years, plans to spearhead a new area of law for Lippes Mathias, which turns 45 next year.
The firm, with 28 attorneys and 17 staff members, specializes in business law, representing banks, private and public companies, venture capital firms, manufacturers and real estate developers.
“We are delighted that a U.S. attorney and former state A.G., who has meant so much to the legal communities of Buffalo and New York State in recent years, today joins our firm as partner,” said Scott Friedman, a managing partner at Lippes Mathias. “Dennis Vacco directed some of the highest-profile and most meaningful legal events of the last 20 years.”
“His association with Lippes Mathias will help take our firm into new sectors, and our clients will benefit from his deep experience, sharp legal mind and national reputation,” he added.
Vacco will specialize in helping businesses work through complex state and federal governmental regulations as well as providing assistance with government investigations. Given his background, the new practice area will involve federal and state compliance and regulatory issues in health care, banking, gaming, environment and real estate, to name a few.
Vacco, 57, served as U.S. attorney in Buffalo from 1988-93 and was elected New York’s 62nd Attorney General in 1994, the first Erie County resident to win that post since 1928, and served in Gov. George E. Pataki’s administration from 1995 to 1998. As attorney general, Vacco resurrected its long dormant criminal prosecution powers. He also created a-first-in-the-nation Internet child pornography unit, which targeted online child predators.
The powers Vacco re-instituted have been more recently employed by his successors to prosecute a wide range of financial abuses. Vacco also expanded the A.G.’s consumer protection role by creating a bureau to help with dealings between patients and their health insurers.
Vacco personally argued and won a decision in a 1997 case before the U.S. Supreme Court that overturned a lower court decision saying physician-assisted suicide was constitutional.
A 1974 graduate of Colgate University and the University at Buffalo Law School in 1978, he then joined the Erie County District Attorney’s Office as an assistant, serving there until 1988. Vacco became vice-president of New York operations for Waste Management Inc. after leaving the attorney general’s office.
“I am thrilled to be joining the highly regarded law firm of Lippes Mathias Wexler Friedman,” Vacco said. “Becoming part of a stable of successful lawyers in this firm and the creation of a new Government Affairs and Regulatory Compliance practice group will give the Lippes firm the ability to dramatically expand not only its services, but geographic reach.”
“The combination of my experience as New York State Attorney General, United States Attorney and as a businessman gives me the unique ability to advise clients in an environment where government oversight and regulation of businesses have become more aggressive. I look forward to this exciting new venture,” Vacco said.
More about Lippes Mathias Wexler Friedman LLP
Lippes Mathias Wexler Friedman LLP offers an unusually high level of expertise in complex business matters. Clients benefit not just from our business focus but also from our business mentality. Founded in 1965, our practice is broadly-based with emphasis in the areas of business and financial transactions, litigation, commercial real estate and development, employee benefits and employment practices, estate planning, administration and business succession, immigration, intellectual property, technology transfer and Internet commerce. We represent a diverse clientele which includes both publicly and privately-owned companies, one of the leading international metal processors and building and construction product suppliers, venture-capital firms, real estate developers, a number of financial institutions, several public authorities and residential mortgage lenders. We have also worked closely with school districts, public officials, public agencies and municipalities.
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