Home > Leadership > Mayor > Archive Press Releases > 2006 Archives > January 2006 > Mayor Brown Announces Corporation Counsel Appointments

Mayor Brown Announces Corporation Counsel Appointments

Source/Contact
Office of the Mayor
Peter K. Culter
Director of Communications
716-851-4841

Cum Laude Graduates of U.B. Law School Named to Top Two Posts

BUFFALO – Upon the strong recommendation of his Transition Team, Mayor Byron Brown today appointed two cum laude graduates of the University at Buffalo Law School to the City of Buffalo's Law Department's top two management positions.

Alisa A. Lukasiewicz has been appointed Corporation Counsel and David J. State has been re-appointed Senior Deputy Corporation Counsel.

"Alisa Lukasiewicz and David State are each accomplished attorneys who, together, bring considerable legal experience and accomplishment to the City of Buffalo's Law Department," stated Mayor Brown. "Both attorneys have demonstrated exemplary public service and dedication to the fair and just application of the law. I am confident that they will provide leadership, skill and strong legal representation to the city and our citizens."

Born and raised in Buffalo, Ms. Lukasiewicz is a 1995 cum laude graduate of the University at Buffalo School of Law and a 1992 summa cum laude graduate of Canisius College, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Political Science.

Ms. Lukasiewicz served as an Assistant Erie County Attorney in the Gorski Administration from1997 through 2000, where she developed a strong knowledge of municipal law, litigating civil claims on behalf of Erie County in civil rights actions, personal injury, medical malpractice, property damage and employment discrimination in both state and federal court.

From 2000 to the present, she has been employed at the law firm of Hurwitz and Fine, P.C., beginning as an associate and then being named a partner in July 2005. She has specialized in municipal litigation, defending the interests of Niagara County, Genesee County, the Village of East Rochester and the Town of Evans among others.

David State is a dean's list graduate of the University at Buffalo, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics and then went on to graduate cum laude from the U.B. School of Law in 1991.

Since 1992, Mr. State has served in the city's Law Department, where he rose to Senior Deputy Corporation Counsel in 1999. In 2004, Mr. State, a member of the New York Army National Guard as assistant staff Judge Advocate with the 42nd Infantry Division (Mechanized) attached to the Engineer Brigade in Buffalo, was deployed to Iraq as a Captain for nineteen months as an active duty military prosecutor.

Ms. Lukasiewicz and Mr. State will lead a Law Department totally fourteen attorneys (including the Corporation Counsel and Senior Deputy Corporation Counsel).

As Corporation Counsel, Ms. Lukasiewicz's annual base salary will be $86,145; Mr. State's annual base salary will be $73,192.