About Matt Chandler
Matt Chandler is a longtime Super Lawyers freelance writer and the author of more than 45 children’s books. His magazine writing has sent him from The White House, where he covered President Obama, to a Buffalo Bisons minor league baseball game, where he dressed up as a bucket of blue cheese to participate in the legendary Chicken Wing race. His writing has earned a number of state and national awards, including six New York Press Association Awards for his feature writing and weekly column, “Just a Thought.” The American Society of Journalists and Authors selected his book, Side-by-Side Baseball Stars: Comparing Pro Baseball’s Greatest Players as the 2015 Outstanding Young Adult Book.
Articles written by Matt Chandler
In the Custody Door, Out the Civilian Door
Don Thompson was fighting injustice decades before the Daniel Prude caseIn March 2020, months before the world would know the name George Floyd, Daniel Prude, a 41-year-old Black man in Rochester, suffered what his family termed a “mental crisis.” Police who were called to the scene took down Prude, who was naked; handcuffed him, placed a spit hood on his head and restrained him. Prude later died from his injuries. Defense attorney Don Thompson, managing partner of Rochester’s Easton Thompson Kasperek Shiffrin, had represented Prude’s brother, Joe, in an …
Prospering in a Pandemic
Culture is key for Albany law firmIt’s late on a Friday afternoon at the Albany office of Monaco Cooper Lamme & Carr. Partner Adam Cooper is enjoying a cold beverage as he admires his WWE Championship Belt, earned as the reigning office champion of the dart board. Fellow founding partner Jacob “Jake” Lamme delivers a crisp strike to the cue ball and scatters the balls across a pool table replete with the firm’s initials emblazoned across the gray felt. Staff and attorneys mingle about the room, a sort of …
The Sweet, Not The Bitter
Kathleen Sweet reflects on her father, her practice and that nomination to the federal benchIt is an unseasonably warm Tuesday afternoon in April as attorney Kathleen Sweet strolls the Buffalo Waterfront. The lake is unusually quiet, the calm waters empty save for a few stray kayakers navigating down the Niagara River toward Lake Erie. The path that winds along the shores of the lake is a popular route for joggers, bikers and walkers; but today, it’s nearly empty. Sweet, a medical malpractice attorney who represents doctors and hospitals across upstate New York, would typically be …
Password Too Well-Protected
Protecting digital assets in an estate planFor more than four decades, Donald Hamburg, an estate planning and probate attorney at Golenbock Eiseman Assor Bell & Peskoe in New York City, has worked with clients to protect their assets. His practice has centered on what to do with real estate, family business, cash and heirlooms. These days, there are two words he stresses to every client who comes through the door: username and password. The digital revolution has changed the way attorneys like Hamburg approach estate …
Estate Planning for Your Digital Presence
For more than four decades, Donald Hamburg, an estate planning and probate attorney at Golenbock Eiseman Assor Bell & Peskoe in New York City, has worked with clients to protect their assets. His practice has centered on what to do with real estate, family business, cash and heirlooms. These days, there are two words he stresses to every client who comes through the door: username and password. What Are Your Digital Assets? The digital revolution has changed the way attorneys approach …
Still Bringing It
John Elmore doesn’t recount glory days. He keeps living themAt first glance, the three-story brick building tucked away in a neighborhood on Buffalo’s gritty East Side appears to be abandoned, another in a long line of derelict properties dotting the landscape of this Rust Belt city. For the most part, it is empty, save for a makeshift gym tucked away on the top floor. It is here that Buffalo attorney John Elmore spends two nights a week, working with young kids, many from unenviable backgrounds in need of the discipline that comes with boxing and …
Northern Exposure
Florina Altshiler wanted to work high-level felonies. She found them in AnchorageFlorina Altshiler’s sixth-floor office is a shrine of sorts to her career. One wall is adorned with uniform patches gifted to her from various law enforcement organizations she worked with as a prosecutor. Another boasts a mix of commendations and media profiles. You’ll also find a dozen prints the self-taught photographer has taken, each accompanied by quotes taken directly from cases she’s been involved with or overheard while in court—the juxtaposition often stark and alarming. …
How Safe Are You From Being Fired on FMLA Leave?
Eligible employees are protected from retaliation for taking protected FMLA leave for serious health conditions or caring for a family member. Covered employers are liable for wrongful termination for unlawful firing when an employee takes job-protected leave under state and federal statutory protections. Enforcement options and legal remedies for job interference claims include job restoration, front pay, back pay, liquidated damages, and reinstatement rights. Talk to an employment lawyer …
The Whole Show
How Peter Brann won by throwing away everything and starting overNearly 20 years have passed since Peter Brann stood before the nine justices of the U.S. Supreme Court and argued Alden v. Maine. It is, he says, the crown jewel of his four-decade legal career—and the furthest thing from a normal day at the office. “If someone tells you it is just another case, they are either braindead or they are lying to you,” Brann says from his office at Brann & Isaacson in Lewiston, Maine. “This is the whole show.” Photos and television didn’t prepare him …
Family Medical (and Job?) Leave Act
How safe are you from termination while on FMLA leave?A new mother is six weeks into her unpaid time off under the Family and Medical Leave Act when she receives a call from her employer. She is being terminated. A foreman at a manufacturing plant recovering from back surgery is out on FMLA leave when he is informed he is being laid off. Do these kinds of things happen? “All the time,” says Robert Ottinger, a plaintiff’s employment attorney at his eponymous firm in Manhattan. But it doesn’t mean there aren’t avenues for redress. When it …
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