About Tom Callahan

Tom Callahan Articles written 6

Articles written by Tom Callahan

Helping Those Who Heal

Mae D’Agostino protects doctors and hospitals

Sometimes modern medicine seems to have all the answers. But when Upstate doctors and hospitals run into legal problems, Mae D’Agostino is often their solution. “If a doctor or hospital gets sued and calls anybody who has any knowledge and asks, ‘Who should I get to represent me?’ the answer is going to be Mae D’Agostino,” says Daniel Santola of Powers & Santola. “She is one of the best medical defense lawyers in the state,” says E. Stewart Jones of the E. Stewart Jones Law …

Calling the Shots

Big or small, Donald W. Boyajian makes each case count        

Don Boyajian's first impression of lawyers wasn't a good one. "I was about age 12," he recalls. "I was in our living room listening to my father's attorney explain why he should settle his claim for specific performance of a written real estate contract, which the seller was seeking to rescind. Trial was venued in a rural county and was imminent. The case was solid but our lawyer predicted that the jury might be turned off by my father's Armenian accent, which was pretty mild." His immigrant …

The Safety Net

Sandy Ain provides unshakable stability to stressed-out clients

Sandy Ain prides himself on consistency. He has been married 30 years. He has occupied the same office overlooking the corner of 19th and M Street for more than 30. He doesn’t change. That’s why his clients, who come to him in times of intense and often painful turmoil, are so comforted. He is there for them, no matter what, even when others are abandoning them. Ain is a divorce lawyer. He considers his role to be that of an advocate and educator. As he once wrote in a chapter of the book …

The Surf King of the Hudson River

Trial lawyer Mike Kessler rides giants in Maui when he’s not winning giant verdicts at home

Albany is a city that has more snow shovels per capita than surfboards, and the Hudson has never been known for its gnarly curls. But Albany is home to one surfer who’s made some pretty big waves.    “I may be the Surf King of the Hudson River,” says Mike Kessler, a proud member of the Association of Surfing Lawyers.    Nobody calls this 59-year-old “dude,” though. Since 1990, Kessler has won nine personal injury and malpractice cases with recoveries over $5 million, five of which …

Plato’s Republic

Who did Monica, Fawn and Aldrich call when they had to get out of a jam? Plato Cacheris

From his modestly furnished and tastefully decorated corner office, Plato Cacheris can look out at Dupont Circle, one of Washington’s most exclusive neighborhoods. In his office, the former U.S. Marine keeps a statuette of a Marine aviator. Not far from that is a framed courtroom drawing of Cacheris at the bar defending one of the most famous spies in American history, Aldrich Ames.   Cacheris is a man of contrasts. He is a legendary lawyer in Washington legal circles, yet few know him …

The Ninth Member of the Chicago Eight

Gerald Lefcourt counts Abbie Hoffman, Sid Vicious and hotelier Harry Helmsley among the clients he’s had in his legendary career

In the summer of 1968, Gerald Lefcourt was 25 years old and his law career was off to a shaky start. He had been fired from his first job with the Legal Aid Society of New York for trying to unionize his fellow public defenders. He sued for wrongful dismissal, and his case made the newspapers.   Then he got a phone call.   “The man said he had a dentist and doctor but, since he had three criminal cases pending, what he really needed was a lawyer,” Lefcourt says. “I said to him, ‘I …

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