News
All the latest firm news and industry updates from Whiteman Osterman & Hanna.
Featured
Bruce J. Wagner Teaches Statewide Audience of Attorneys and Judges
- Category: Featured Matrimonial and Family Law
Bruce J. Wagner, Chair of our Matrimonial & Family Law Department, presented a two-hour program for the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) entitled “Happy 40th Birthday Equitable Distribution - Part 2,” which covered a wide variety of topics in observance of the 40th anniversary of the July 1980 enactment of New York’s Equitable Distribution Law. This program was the second in a series Mr. Wagner began in April 2020. He also recently presented [...]
Read More ›Whiteman Osterman & Hanna LLP Announces New Of Counsels
ALBANY, N.Y. (December 16, 2020) – Whiteman Osterman & Hanna LLP, the Capital Region’s largest law firm, is pleased to announce that Donald T. Kinsella has joined us as Senior Counsel and Robert J. McLaughlin has joined us as Of Counsel. Each of these individuals have extraordinary credentials and will further enhance the professional services our clients have come to expect from our attorneys. Donald Kinsella joins Whiteman Osterman & Hanna with more than four decades [...]
Read More ›USCIS Flexes Muscle with New “Discretion” Criteria for Green Card Applications
- Category: Featured Immigration
In yet another update to its Policy Manual, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services today announced that it is updating existing policy guidance regarding the exercise of discretion in adjudications of adjustment of status applications. Importantly, the new provisions apply to all family-based, employment-based and diversity visa adjustment of status applications. In a separate “Policy Alert,” USCIS states that the new guidance is effective [...]
Read More ›Whiteman Osterman & Hanna LLP sadly announces the passing of John R. Dunne, Senior Counsel. For more than 25 years, John was our colleague, our mentor and our friend who added to the integrity and the culture of our Firm.Throughout his legal and political career, John was the consummate professional, filled with both a love of the law and compassion for those who were most affected by its application. He brought the best out in all of us and humbly served as an inspiration for [...]
Read More ›Lakes to Locks Passage, Inc. held a virtual Annual Meeting on September 28, 2020, where the Board voted to elect Randall Beach as President of the Board. Beach had previously served as 1st Vice-President, he replaces Edward Bartholomew of the Warren County Economic Development Corporation, who passed away in July. A native of Plattsburgh and now a resident of Schenectady, Randall is a partner at Whiteman Osterman & Hanna LLP where he has practiced in the areas of real estate [...]
Read More ›With immigration matters figuring so prominently in the news, one might wonder, how did we get here? Many of us might think that things were always difficult, that legal entry always involved a formalized process, and that our own ancestors surely did things “the right way” after the formation of the sovereign United States of America.There were no bars to U.S. immigration until 1875, when the first exclusionary law barred convicts and prostitutes from entry. In the decades that [...]
Read More ›USCIS Issues New “Notice to Appear” Policy, With Significant Impacts on Applicants for Immigration Benefits
- Category: Articles Immigration
On July 5, 2018, U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) published new guidance regarding its procedures and policies for issuing Notices to Appear (NTA). An NTA is a charging document that is issued to foreign nationals, placing them in removal proceedings and directing them to appear before an immigration judge. The Department of Homeland Security has long relied upon its enforcement arm, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to handle the issuance of NTAs in most cases. [...]
Read More ›USCIS Updates Procedures on Issuance of Requests for Evidence and Notices of Intent to Deny
- Category: Articles Immigration
On July 13, 2018, USCIS issued a policy memorandum, providing guidance to adjudicators regarding the discretion to deny an application, petition, or other benefit request without first issuing a Request for Evidence (RFE) or Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID) if required evidence is not submitted with the initial petition/application package, or if the evidence in the record does not establish eligibility for the benefit sought. This guidance is effective September 11, 2018.This policy memo [...]
Read More ›“Not in my front yard!” is the battle cry for residents and battleground for municipalities across New York, as they prepare for the deployment of the next generation of wireless infrastructure 5G technology. Cellular services providers, with the assistance of federal law and FCC orders, have opted to deploy the latest technology - small cells and DAS systems - in municipal rights-of-way, much to the chagrin, in many cases, of local leaders and residents. By one [...]
Read More ›News Categories
- Featured
- Articles
- Case Studies
- Firm News
- Agriculture/Agribusiness
- Alcoholic Beverages
- Business, Corporate and Commercial
- Clean Tech
- Education
- Estate Planning and Administration
- Environmental
- Energy and Telecommunications
- Federal and State Taxation
- Insurance
- Government Relations
- Health Care
- Immigration
- International Trade and Business
- Labor and Employment Law
- Land Use and Development
- Litigation and Appeals
- Public and Private Finance
- Matrimonial and Family Law
- Municipal
- Privacy, Cybersecurity and Information Management
- Real Estate