Hiscock & Barclay 150th Anniversary Timeline - 1980-1996

1983 - Under Picardi's leadership, the firm opens an office in Orlando, Florida. The following year, the firm opens offices in Buffalo and Portland, Maine and merges with existing firms in Albany (Poskanzer, Hessberg, Blumberg, Dolin, Barba, Greisler & Trombly; founded in 1837) and Augusta, Maine (Locke, Campbell & Chapman merged to become Locke-Chapman Branch, founded in 1915). Thirteen new partners, 18 associates, six counsels and 16 paralegals are added. Among those becoming partners is Anthony J. Carpinello who subsequently is elected Justice of the Supreme Court and appointed to the Appellate Division, Third Department. In addition to creating and expanding several offices, the firm changes its name from Hiscock, Lee, Rogers, Henley & Barclay to the current name Hiscock & Barclay.

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1984 - Hugh R. Jones, former Associate Judge of the New York State Court of Appeals from 1972-1984, resumes private practice with Hiscock & Barclay after retiring from the bench. He practices with the firm until 1992.

1987 - In November of 1987, the Senior Vice President of Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. and former member of the New York State Assembly and the U.S. House of Representatives, John H. Terry, joins Hiscock & Barclay as resident counsel.

1988 - Hiscock & Barclay names its first woman partner. Helen Osgood, who had joined the Buffalo office as an associate in 1987 and practiced banking law. She is made partner in 1988 and remains with the firm until 1999.

1990 - Partner Carter Chase is elected senior vice president and assistant general counsel for KeyCorp.

1990 - Hiscock & Barclay’s Buffalo office gains nine attorneys in November 1990, bringing the total to 14 attorneys. The addition is a result of downsizing at local 136-year-old law firm, Moot & Sprague.

1990 - Salvatore Martoche joins the Buffalo office. In 1999, he is elected a Justice of the New York State Supreme Court.

1992 - Hiscock & Barclay opens a small Rochester office. By 1992, the firm has offices around the country. In New York, the firm has offices in Albany, Buffalo, Syracuse, Watertown, and satellite offices in Carthage, Islandia and Rochester. The firm also has offices in Augusta and Portland, Maine; Seattle and Silverdale, Washington; Orlando, Florida; and Anchorage, Alaska.

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1995 - Ferdinand Picardi retires as managing partner in 1995 after 20 years of service in the role and George Deptula takes over as managing partner. As the full effect of the KeyCorp/Society merger is felt by the firm, Deptula is faced with a series of difficult leadership challenges, including the need to downsize the firm in order to save it. Some partners decide to leave the firm, several of the satellite offices close, and lawyers and support staff are laid off. "The hardest decision, and there were several hard decisions, was to have to downsize the firm, close offices, and terminate attorneys and staff," Deptula says.

1996 - After downsizing and restructuring, three core offices remain: Albany, Buffalo and Syracuse. Deptula spends the next several years leading the firm through a number of important initiatives designed to stabilize the firm.

1997 - Current Managing Partner, John Langan, is elected to the firm's Management Committee at the age of 34. Langan, from a long line of Syracuse attorneys including his grandfather, father and three brothers, received his legal training in New York City and joined the partnership in 1995.

1998 - John Nice, also age 34, is recruited as the firm's new Executive Director. The hiring of Nice, a former Chief Operating Officer of a Central New York business who was trained at a "Big 5" accounting firm, is considered a bold stroke, since he came with no prior law firm experience.

1998 - A new leadership team consisting of a three-member Management Committee comprised of Langan in Syracuse, Mark McNamara in Buffalo, and Edward Trombly in Albany, along with John Nice, sets out upon a partner-supported strategy to grow the firm and its client base, while also focusing on operational efficiencies and better cost controls.

1999 - Freshman partner Richard Capozza is selected as the Marketing Partner in charge of firm-wide client development and forms a task force to strategically respond to the deregulation of the utility industry. At about the same time, Tim Green, college football All-American and Hall of Famer, NFL defensive lineman (Atlanta Falcons), New York Times best selling author, FOX Sports and National Public Radio broadcaster, and newspaper columnist, is recruited to focus on client development.

1999 - The firm eventually grows one major utility client into approximately 25 energy and utility clients over a three-year period. The explosion helps fuel growth of the firm while the administrative team recruited and lead by John Nice continues improving the firm in the area of operational and cost efficiencies.