Luibrand Law Firm, PLLC

Focus and practice areas

The work here spans civil rights, personal injury, criminal defense and a set of civil disputes. Civil rights matters include excessive force, false arrest and malicious prosecution claims. These cases usually turn on the conduct of police officers or other public bodies. Carrying them takes a firm that is comfortable suing government defendants and pressing for records those defendants hold.

On the personal injury side, the firm handles auto accidents, wrongful death, falls and aircraft crash litigation. Aviation cases fall in a narrow field, since they draw in federal safety records and technical review of the crash. Listing that work next to routine auto claims points to a firm willing to take on complex files. The personal injury and civil rights areas can overlap, because a wrongful death claim sometimes follows an act of official force.

Criminal defense covers drug crimes, sex offenses, weapons charges and white collar cases. The firm also names federal charges brought against researchers and scientists, a narrower area than most criminal defense work carries. Business and contract disputes and defamation fill out the civil docket. In my opinion, that spread points to a firm built for disputes where a person is up against an institution.

Employment cases and who the firm represents

A distinct group of matters covers New York State employees. That takes in school superintendent contract questions, state employee disciplinary charges and teacher disciplinary charges. These proceedings often run through administrative hearings well before they reach a court. An attorney who knows that track can shape the hearing record early, when it carries the most weight.

Hostile work environment and sexual harassment claims fall in the same employment area. Defamation adds the reputation side of the work, where a false statement can cost someone a job or a license. The firm's client list leans toward professionals: lawyers, business people, judges, educators, scientists, government leaders and doctors. As a reviewer, I read that list as a sign the firm draws people whose careers ride on the result.

Harassment and disciplinary claims share a common thread: much of the fight happens in filings and hearings before any trial. A strong position early can settle a matter or narrow what a judge later sees. That is where knowledge of the specific board or agency earns its keep. The firm names these categories directly, so its intake is set up to spot which track a matter belongs on.

How the team is built

Kevin Luibrand owns the firm and is the only attorney named on the site. His background reaches beyond private practice. He was a U.S. Army Captain, now retired, and worked as a JAG Corps attorney at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Before the current firm, he was a partner at Tobin and Dempf, LLP.

With one named attorney, the person a client meets is the person who runs the case. That structure suits the matter types the firm names, where continuity counts across long proceedings. A single lead also means one steady read on strategy across intake and the hearings that follow. The military legal service adds time spent in a system with its own rules and courts.

The client base the firm describes leans on discretion. Judges, doctors and scientists hold licenses and reputations that a public dispute can put at risk. A smaller firm can keep a tighter circle around a sensitive file. Handling such clients calls for careful control of what enters the public record.

Admissions, courts and service area

Kevin Luibrand is admitted in New York and Florida. He also holds admission in the U.S. District Courts for Vermont, Connecticut and Rhode Island. The site lists courts where he has argued or presented cases, among them the New York State Supreme Court and the Appellate Division, Third Department. The site does not state his law school or the year of his admission.

Appellate experience matters for the fields the firm names. Civil rights and disciplinary cases often move up on appeal after a first ruling. Counsel who has appeared at the Appellate Division can carry a matter past the trial court.

On geography, the firm serves Upstate New York and the Capital Region. That takes in Albany, Troy, Schenectady, Saratoga and Latham, where the office is. The federal district admissions reach into three New England districts, which widens the map for certain matters.

What these matters tend to involve

Civil rights claims like excessive force or false arrest often begin with a notice of claim when a public body is a defendant. New York sets short deadlines for that first filing, sometimes ninety days from the event. A firm that handles these cases tracks those clocks from the first call. Missing an early deadline can close a case before the facts are ever heard.

Criminal defense follows a separate path through arraignment, pretrial motions and, in some files, trial. Federal charges against researchers add grand jury practice and agency involvement on top of that. The firm names both state and federal criminal work, so a client may see either route. In my opinion, a firm that handles civil rights and criminal defense sees police conduct from more than one angle.

Personal injury files move on their own timeline, starting with investigation of the accident and moving toward negotiation or suit. Aircraft cases can pull in federal investigators and manufacturers, which lengthens the work. Defamation claims turn on proof that a statement was false and caused real harm. Each of these areas rewards a firm that gathers evidence early and keeps it organized.

How the firm handles client contact

Client accounts point to steady communication as a case moves. People describe an attorney who explains the next step and stays reachable while the work goes on. A paralegal handles early intake, which fits an office where one attorney carries the case load. That setup keeps a single point of contact through the file.

For matters that stretch over months, that kind of contact can matter as much as the legal filings. It lets a client follow decisions as they happen and ask questions without waiting in a queue. The firm's own materials point people toward an initial consultation before any work begins.

The site frames that first meeting as the way to open a file and set expectations. From there, the same attorney and paralegal carry the matter forward through each stage.