OUR STORY
Twenty-five years ago, RJ Cohen was a young partner in one of the oldest and largest law firms in Buffalo. In 2001 he left that firm with a few of his fellow partners and started their own firm, which was named after his two primary professional mentors – each a generation older than him. For the next 20 or so years he served as the Managing Partner and chief strategic architect of that firm, which grew into an AmLaw 200 national firm. He also recruited more than 700 lawyers to that firm throughout his tenure.
In 2021, a year into the global crisis of a pandemic the likes of which had not been seen for 100 years, he received an offer to join his long-time buddies in another growing multi-state firm – one that was based in the Southeast but which had begun to expand well beyond its geographic origins. For a wide variety of reasons, he considered it an offer he couldn’t refuse. RJ’s intention was to move to Charlotte with his wife and their six youngest kids. Unfortunately, logistics and life prevented that from happening, and in February of 2024, RJ retired from that firm.
JEFF CUNNINGHAM, JOHN DEROSE, JOSH HIGGINS AND CHRIS LYON
John (in 2016), Josh (in 2016), Jeff (in 2019) and Chris (in 2019) were among the hundreds of people RJ sought to recruit to the firm he ran for nearly two decades. He was successful in recruiting only three of the four, but he knew even back then that each of them weren’t just exceptional; they each represented something rare and pivotal. Little did RJ know back then that it would be a prelude to something even more momentous.
Sometime in 2022, RJ was in Philadelphia and met up for breakfast with John – who by that time had left the firm to which RJ had originally recruited him. RJ asked whether John might be interested in talking about coming and joining RJ at his new firm. And so began the formal recruiting process. Again. For reasons beyond their control, those discussions ultimately fell through.
In October or November of 2023, Jeff reached out to RJ to let him know he was thinking about leaving the firm to which RJ originally recruited him, and they met for coffee. And so began the formal recruiting process. Again. In December of 2023 Jeff joined the firm that RJ was at.
In December of 2023, RJ and Chris happened to find themselves at the same conference in Las Vegas. They hadn’t seen each other – or, frankly, spoken – since before RJ left the firm to which he had recruited Chris, and they decided to grab breakfast and catch up. Breakfast went so well that they decided to get together again for lunch that same day. Over lunch, RJ asked Chris if he wanted to talk about joining RJ at the firm to which he had gone. Chris expressed interest in learning more about the opportunity, and so began the formal recruiting process. Again.
Shortly after that, RJ retired from that firm. He called Chris to update him – knowing that it might affect Chris’s decision about joining the firm, which of course it did. Chris and RJ talked about their disappointment in not being able to work together again and, over time, their discussions morphed into finding a way to work together again.
Right around that same time, Josh, who RJ tried but failed to recruit eight years prior, reached out to RJ essentially out of the blue. RJ considered it serendipity, and not long after that, RJ, Chris, Jeff, John and Josh found themselves musing about creating a new law firm in their fully aligned vision.
RJ recruited Sean out of a very large firm nearly 20 years ago when Sean was a young associate with a handful of years of experience. They then spent more than a decade together at the same firm – most of which as partners and leaders -- before both ultimately left that firm within a few years of each other. When the founders of this firm put together a wish list of people they wanted to add to the ownership group, Sean was at the top of the list. On the day of the firm’s launch, John reached out to Sean and within four days Sean was a member of our ownership group and at his first firm meeting. Sean co-chairs our Transportation practice across our footprint.
Mike was also on our wish list from the start. Mike had worked with Jeff at a prior firm and Jeff had enormous professional respect and personal regard for Mike. It didn’t take long for the other founders to understand why and share in that sentiment. Mike joined the ownership group only months after our launch and immediately became a core leader of both our Construction and Transportation practices.
Kelly was also on our wish list from the very beginning. Some years ago, RJ had helped recruit Kelly, a construction lawyer with two decades of experience, to his prior firm. In September of 2025, RJ reached out to Kelly to see if she would be interested in chatting, and within what seems like no time flat, Kelly joined our ownership group. An Editor-in-Chief of the New York Bar Association’s treatise on construction worksite injury litigation, Kelly chairs our Construction practice throughout our footprint.
ONE DAY IN EARLY 2024
...not all that long after RJ and the other guys started talking in earnest about building a firm, RJ and his friend Tracey McLean were talking on the phone, as friends of their vintage still do these days, when Tracey wondered whether RJ – now retired – might be interested in counseling her and her partner Joe Vaughan about how to carry out the strategic evolution of their firm. Although he initially declined, RJ ultimately agreed based on his great professional respect and personal regard for Tracey. Having never met or even spoken to Joe, RJ suggested that the first conversation be in person – in some large part so that RJ could spend quality time with John while in Philly to meet Joe. Two birds, one stone.
John and RJ met for coffee in Philadelphia and then John, quite literally, walked RJ over to the restaurant where RJ was to meet with Joe for dinner. They had a 6pm dinner reservation. Seven hours later, with the restaurant about to close, they walked out onto the street. The very last thing Joe said to RJ prior to walking out was “so it is obvious we are going to do something together. Do you want to meet again next week?” RJ responded that he couldn’t meet that next week because he was going to be in New York meeting with his potential future law partners. Joe mentioned that he would be happy to meet RJ in New York, and they ultimately did meet for lunch. Although the second conversation didn’t last quite as long as the first, it did last a couple of hours. The first question Joe asked RJ over lunch was what RJ’s five year vision was. RJ hesitated and then candidly responded that his five year vision didn’t resemble in any way what Joe had built to that point. Joe asked RJ to explain to him the vision that RJ had developed, and RJ did so – in great detail -- philosophically, strategically, and culturally. They began a months long dialogue to figure out if they could join forces, notwithstanding that RJ already was by then heavily invested in the vision he, Jeff, John, Josh and Chris had created. For us, it was an offshoot of an age-old adage: What would be better – a firm in hand? Or two in the bush? It was a novel approach, to be sure – and one we knew was neither zero nor 100 percent likely to be sustaining over time.
FAST FORWARD TO 2025
And so the two firms joined forces in search of a synergy that would benefit all – and particularly the clients of both firms. Two firms operating under one brand. It was not a merger by any means – the two firms were too different in too many ways. But the vision for how it would work was seemingly aligned. It was an innovative experiment in cost and operational efficiencies made possible by two complementary firms sharing certain resources and branding, but required that in all material respects we operate and collaborate as if we were one firm and not two.
CUE 2026
Although we and our clients were pleased with the early results of that experiment, we ultimately decided that we would be in a better position to continue serving our clients and growing our footprint on our own. We made this decision carefully and in close consultation as a leadership team, and thoughtfully put into place the systems and processes necessary to ensure continuity for our team and for our clients.
In our first year we expanded from a founding group of five lawyers and three executive administrators to a team of 13 lawyers and nine staff, and we expect steady and continuing growth at all levels of the firm going forward.
OUR “FOUNDING” ADMINISTRATORS
We have five founders and have grown to eight owners, but we consider ourselves to be much more inclusive than that. As leaders, we strongly believe that our core administrators are every bit, if not more, important than the core partners. Jennifer Majewski (as our Chief Operating Officer), Amanda Spencer (as our Chief Human Resources and Culture Officer) and Anna Gilman (as our Chief Business Relations and Culture Officer) were all on our wish list from the very beginning. Fortune smiled upon us when each of the three became available to us, and we are forever grateful to have each of them as part of our leadership group.
