BUFFALO, N.Y. — Hodgson Russ LLP is pleased to announce that Michael B. Risman, Corporation Counsel of the City of Buffalo from 1997 through February 2006, has joined the firm as a partner in its Municipal Law and Business Litigation Practice Groups.

Mr. Risman has more than 25 years of experience representing municipalities in a wide range of civil litigation and appeals. Most recently, as head of the Department of Law of the City of Buffalo, he served as chief counsel for the City, the Mayor, the Common Council, the Buffalo Board of Education, and other municipal entities and officials. Prior to becoming Corporation Counsel, Mr. Risman served as the Senior Deputy Corporation Counsel for 10 years.

Mr. Risman directed the City's and the Board of Education's litigation in all areas and was involved in many complex economic and real estate development projects for the City. During his tenure with the City, he successfully represented it in many complex, high-profile cases, including the Propane Explosion and the Buffalo Teachers Federation strike cases.

An active member of the legal, business, and cultural communities, Mr. Risman is a committee member of the Erie County Charter Revision Commission, a member of the Niagara Frontier Corporate Counsel Association board of directors, and former chair of the Municipal Law Committee of the Bar Association of Erie County. Mr. Risman is also an adjunct professor of law at the University at Buffalo Law School, where he teaches a course on regionalism.

He is listed in Who's Who in Law and was a recipient of Business First's 40 Under Forty Award for community service and leadership in 1996.

Mr. Risman received a B.A. from Boston University and a J.D. from the University at Buffalo Law School.

With more than 225 attorneys practicing in all major areas of law, Hodgson Russ is among the 200 largest law firms headquartered in the United States. It is one of approximately 100 firms in the country listed in America's Greatest Places to Work With a Law Degree. In June 2005, Hodgson Russ received the Carol S. Knox Family-Friendly Employer Award from the Capital District Women's Bar Association. The firm, which was established in 1817 and is among the oldest law firms in the United States, is the only law firm that can count two former U.S. presidents, Millard Fillmore and Grover Cleveland, among its alumni. Hodgson Russ has offices in Albany, Buffalo, Johnstown, and New York, New York; Boca Raton, Florida; and Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

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