Bond Elects Eleven New Members

January 30, 2025

(Syracuse, NY): Bond, Schoeneck & King is pleased to announce that effective Jan. 1, 2025, 11 attorneys have been elected members (partners) of the firm.

“Congratulations to the attorneys on this well-deserved, major milestone in their careers. Their dedication to our clients, the firm and their communities is admirable and we look forward to their continued success at Bond,” said Brian Butler, chair of the firm’s management committee.

The new members are: Mara D. Afzali (Litigation – Albany), Stefania Boscarolli (Trust and Estates – Melville), Kevin G. Cope (Litigation – Buffalo), Samuel G. Dobre (Litigation – New York), E. Katherine Hajjar (Higher Education – New York), Jason F. Kaufman (Labor and Employment – New York), Amber L. Lawyer (Cybersecurity and Data Privacy – Syracuse), Daniel J. Nugent (Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation – Syracuse), Gabriel S. Oberfield (Health Care – New York), Jeremy M. Sher (Litigation – Rochester), Sarah K. Spencer (Environmental and Energy – Buffalo).

Bond Member Bios:

Mara D. Afzali (Albany) represents public and private sector clients in a variety of civil litigation matters in state and federal court and has successfully argued on behalf of clients through motions, at hearings, trials, administrative proceedings and on appeal. She also routinely advises clients in litigation prevention strategies and risk mitigation. Her experience includes handling business and commercial disputes, trust and estate litigation and defending employers against allegations of discrimination, retaliation and civil rights violations.

Stefania Boscarolli (Melville) focuses her practice on tax and estate planning, wealth preservation, business succession planning and trust and estate administration. She is a dual-credentialed law graduate, with law degrees from Italy and the United States. She works with clients to design and execute various succession planning documents, including wills, revocable and irrevocable trusts, health care proxies and powers of attorney, as well as beneficiary designations and other documents to transfer and protect assets.

Kevin G. Cope (Buffalo) uses his experience in various areas of litigation to assist a wide range of clients in successfully resolving pending matters or, when possible, to avoid litigation through implementing measures to mitigate or avoid potential exposure. Cope’s practice focuses on commercial litigation and general defense in Federal and New York State courts, with experience in matters involving breach of contract and fiduciary duty, misappropriation, insurance coverage, cybersecurity liability, employment litigation, class action defense and premises liability, both at the trail court and appellate level, arguing several appeals before the Appellate Division, Fourth Department and obtaining a defense verdict in one of the first Child Victim Act cases to go to a jury trial in New York State.

Samuel G. Dobre (New York) represents employers in complex labor and employment litigation matters, including: wage and hour class actions; employment discrimination and retaliation cases; breach of employment agreements; restrictive covenant issues; and disputes concerning non-compete agreements. He has successfully defended claims of race, gender, age, disability, national origin and religion discrimination and retaliation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), New York State Human Rights Law (NYSHRL) and New York City Human Rights Law (NYCHRL).

E. Katherine Hajjar (New York) is the deputy chair of the firm’s higher education practice. She counsels and represents colleges and universities, independent schools, and various nonprofit entities in a range of matters including student and faculty affairs, compliance, agency investigations, and labor and employment. Hajjar has more than a decade of experience in the field of higher education and rejoined Bond’s New York City office after serving as Associate General Counsel at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT).

Jason F. Kaufman (New York) brings extensive experience in a wide range of litigation matters, with an emphasis on managing labor and employment matters and commercial litigation. He assists employers in navigating the complexities associated with the successful operation of their business, including wage and hour disputes, employee discrimination, retaliation and breach of employee agreements. Kaufman also counsels employers in various industries regarding workplace requirements and compliance with State and Federal rules and regulations.

Amber L. Lawyer (Syracuse) serves as the co-chair of Bond’s Data Privacy and Cybersecurity practice and maintains Certified Information Privacy Professional/United States (CIPP/US) and Certified Information Privacy Professional/European (CIPP/E) credentials through the American National Standards Institute (ANSI)-accredited International Association of Privacy Professionals. Lawyer advises clients on technology transactions and contract negotiations, privacy and cybersecurity compliance issues, data breach response and general corporate matters. She represents a wide range of clients across all industries, including retail, hospitality, manufacturing, development, higher education, technology, health care and media.

Daniel J. Nugent (Syracuse) counsels his public and private sector clients on a wide range of employee benefits and executive compensation matters. He assists clients with the implementation and administration of executive compensation arrangements including employment agreements, severance agreements, non-qualified deferred compensation arrangements and equity-based compensation arrangements. Nugent also counsels clients on retirement and health and welfare plan compliance, as well as litigation related to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and governmental investigations.

Gabriel S. Oberfield (New York) counsels health care clients on issues at the intersection of legal, policy and operational affairs. As an experienced health care attorney with health care management expertise, Oberfield guides C-suite leaders on matters ranging from regulatory and legislative affairs to strategic planning as well as legal issues affecting their organizations.

Trained as a lawyer and a journalist, he is seasoned in operations, persuasive in advocacy and an asset in crisis management.

Jeremy M. Sher (Rochester) practices in a wide variety of areas and in every phase of litigation, including trials and appeals. He successfully represents institutional and individual clients in federal, state and bankruptcy courts, as well as arbitration proceedings. He has litigated commercial, contract, employment, securities and municipal actions. Sher’s diverse experience includes bringing and defending proceedings to dissolve closely held corporations, negotiating stock sales, successfully prosecuting and defending commercial landlord-tenant disputes, winning breach of warranty and revocation actions and obtaining favorable judgments in Article 78 proceedings.

Sarah K. Spencer (Buffalo) counsels clients in federal and state environmental and energy matters, including those related to water pollution control, solid and hazardous waste management, air quality, brownfields and remediation, petroleum and chemical storage, and issues involving emerging contaminants. She is also experienced in energy facility siting, including proceedings under Article VII of the Public Service Law and renewable energy facility development.