The Towne Law Firm, P.C.

Focus and practice areas

The firm runs a general civil practice out of Albany, New York, and serves individuals, businesses and municipalities. Its work splits between transactional matters and courtroom litigation. The listed practice areas cover business law, personal injury, real estate, estate planning and administration, labor and employment, and tax. Construction, environmental, immigration, insurance defense, malpractice, municipal, administrative, and vehicle and traffic law fill out the rest.

That breadth points to a firm built to keep a range of legal needs under one roof. In my opinion, the useful signal here is the mix of everyday matters and business disputes handled by the same office. A client with a traffic ticket and a client with a contract fight both find a place on the services list.

How the team is built

The team page lists fifteen attorneys and recognizes retired and deceased members separately. According to data the site publishes, the firm was founded in 2009 by James T. Towne, Jr., who leads it as principal. His bio credits more than 40 years representing individuals, businesses, municipalities and related entities.

Towne's own practice covers commercial litigation, corporate and commercial law, personal injury litigation, estate litigation, and commercial and residential real estate. He also handles Native American law, racing and gaming law, equine law, professional malpractice claims and employment issues.

Litigators on the roster

John W. Liguori has practiced for more than 25 years and concentrates on municipal, public housing and personal injury law. He has litigated negligence defense, civil rights and personal injury cases in state and federal court, and he previously served as Deputy County Attorney in the Albany County Department of Law.

Mark T. Houston focuses on civil litigation with an emphasis on municipal, public housing and personal injury law, and he defends premises liability and civil rights matters for municipal entities. His work also reaches landlord-tenant, estates and probate, environmental and real estate law. Michael Rhodes-Devey has practiced in Albany since 1985 and covers criminal law, racing and gaming law, civil litigation, Native American law, New York State liquor licenses and bankruptcy.

More of the roster

Shalini Natesan, a partner, has more than 10 years in corporate law. She works on changes of ownership, buy-sell agreements, and the documents behind business and corporate formations, and she has set up subsidiary entities for businesses across New York State and the Northeast.

Eugene P. Devine brings a bench background to the roster. An Albany native, he was elected a Justice of the New York State Supreme Court in 2006, and in 2014 Governor Andrew M. Cuomo appointed him to the Appellate Division, Third Department. Megan L. Bassler came to law after about two years in social services, and she earned a Master of Social Work from the University of Pittsburgh before law school.

The roster also names Eleanor R. Condelles, Robert H. Coughlin, Jr., Douglas L. Goldman, Michael L. Goldstein and Michael J. Hannah among the attorneys on the full team page.

Where the firm practices

Beyond the Albany headquarters, the firm keeps offices in Saratoga Springs and Burnt Hills in New York, plus one in Bennington, Vermont. That footprint covers the Capital Region and reaches into southwestern Vermont.

The reach in court runs wider than the office map. The firm's attorneys appear in all New York State courts and hold admissions in Vermont, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Georgia. The list also includes the St. Regis Mohawk Tribal Bar, several federal district courts, the U.S. Tax Court, the First and Second Circuit Courts of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court.

What the roster tells a client

Longevity shows up across several of the bios. As a reviewer, I read the mix of a founder with four decades of practice, a former Deputy County Attorney, and a judge who sat on the Appellate Division as evidence of an experienced roster. The named practice areas support that, since different attorneys handle municipal defense, corporate formation, personal injury and estate litigation.

Civil litigation of this kind usually moves through pleadings, discovery, motion practice and, in the matters that reach it, trial before a state or federal judge. Municipal and civil rights defense often turns on the factual record that discovery produces. Personal injury claims tend to settle or resolve on motions well before any trial date. That general shape helps a reader place the litigation, insurance defense and personal injury work the firm names.

The jurisdictional list gives a client one practical read: work that crosses state lines or lands in federal court can stay with the same firm. Business owners setting up subsidiaries, municipalities defending civil rights claims, and families handling estates each map to a named attorney on the site. The firm was founded in 2009 and now lists fifteen attorneys working from four offices across New York and Vermont.