Michelle Merola

Mr. Bottar brings more than 20 years of experience to the pursuit of medical malpractice, wrongful death, and complex personal injury actions throughout New York and the northeastern United States, with a focus on claims for birth injuries, neonatal/pediatric negligence, heart attack, stroke, brain damage, nerve injuries, cancer misdiagnosis, and liability under the Federal Tort Claims Act. Mr. Bottar is a graduate of Colgate University and is a summa cum laude (top 2%) graduate of Syracuse U...

Peter is a partner in our Business Law department, concentrating on corporate bankruptcy cases, commercial law and banking law. With over 40 years of experience representing banks and secured lenders, Peter regularly appears in bankruptcy court for the Northern District of New York. In addition to his creditors’ rights practice, he has represented several Chapter 11 debtors and has successfully confirmed a number of Chapter 11 reorganization cases. Peter’s clients include banks, l...

Pam has been a Partner at O’Connell & Aronowitz for 30 years where she practices in our Personal Injury Litigation Department. She was the firm’s managing partner for fifteen years. Her accomplishments tackling the legal issues that arise during litigation have been critical to the firm’s overall success. Pam consistently obtains excellent results representing plaintiffs in all areas of personal injury lawsuits including wrongful death cases, medical malpractice, automob...

Steve is the founding partner and chair of the Personal Injury and Criminal Defense practices at O’Connell and Aronowitz. Under his leadership, our firm has become one of the most active personal injury and criminal defense law firms in upstate New York. Few lawyers in the area have excelled in both the personal injury and criminal defense fields. With over thirty five years of experience at the state and federal levels, Steve is considered one of the most successful trial lawyers in th...

Brian Goldstein focuses his practice in the areas of executive compensation, employee benefits, and ERISA fiduciary counseling. He is a founding member of the firm’s ESOP class action practice. For over 30 years, Brian has assisted clients with the design and implementation of all types of pension, profit sharing, 401(k), employee stock ownership, stock-based compensation, nonqualified deferred compensation and tax-sheltered annuity plans. His practice has a particular concentration on ...

Eugene Devine is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Labor Law - Union and Real Estate Law. Eugene, who practices law in Albany, New York, has been recognized since 2025. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Eugene is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Neil is Of Counsel with our Health Law practice and supervising partner of our Appeals, Constitutional Law and Casino & Gaming practices. He has represented numerous and varied clients in the health care industry and is currently General Counsel for the New York State Health Facilities Association where he focuses on issues involving complex Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement issues, regulatory compliance and Certificates of Need. Neil has lectured widely on legal matters affecting the h...

Tom Mortati joined Martin, Harding and Mazzotti, LLP in the Fall of 2017 and brought with him 26 years of defense litigation and trial experience. He quickly made his mark at MHM when in June 2018 he obtained what was reported to be the first plaintiff jury verdict in Rensselaer County Supreme Court in over five years with the jury awarding more than three times what the insurance company offered. In August, 2019 he obtained a record $7.436 million verdict in St. Lawrence County Supreme Court...

Michael J. Hutter is a Professor of Law at Albany Law School of Union University, where he has been a member of the faculty since 1976. He is also Special Counsel to the Albany law firm of Powers & Santola, LLP. Professor Hutter is an honors graduate of Brown University and Boston College Law School. In law school, he was the Editor-In-Chief of Boston College’s law review and was elected to the Order of the Coif. After graduation, Professor Hutter served as law clerk to Judge Matthe...

Sam NeJame is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Government Relations Practice. Sam, who practices law in Albany, New York, has been recognized since 2023. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Sam is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.