Kirwan Law

Focus and where the firm works

Clients here include individuals and business owners, and the firm takes matters across New York State. The work runs along two broad tracks: business and commercial law, and civil litigation. Personal injury, probate disputes and real estate disputes fill out the named practice areas. The office sits in Syracuse.

In my opinion the mix reads as a general civil and commercial practice with a clear tilt toward business disputes. The site does not list a founding year. It puts a long trial record forward as the firm's main credential. The attorney roster stays at two names, which keeps the point of contact clear for a client.

How the business side is handled

Business owners reach the firm at different stages of a company's life. At the start, the firm advises on entity selection and the formation paperwork that puts a company on the record with the state. Entity selection sets whether a business runs as a corporation, a limited liability company or a partnership, and that choice shapes taxes and personal liability. Getting it settled early saves arguments later.

As a company runs, the firm covers operations, contracts, governance and succession. Governance work sets the rules for how owners make decisions, and succession planning fixes who takes over when an owner steps back. Contract work sets the terms a company relies on for its vendor deals and employment agreements. The firm also advises on the sale of a business and on mergers and acquisitions.

When owners fall out, the firm takes on partnership disputes and business dissolution, which is the legal wind-down of a company. It brings and defends business fraud claims and handles disputes with vendors and other stakeholders. Commercial litigation and appeals run through both state and federal courts. That gives a business client a path to a courtroom when a deal or a partnership breaks down.

Civil litigation and injury claims

Away from the business docket, the firm represents people hurt in accidents. Named injury work includes car accidents and premises liability, the category that covers slips, falls and other harm on someone's property. Terry Kirwan's biography adds medical malpractice and wrongful death actions to that list. Premises liability claims ask whether an owner kept a space reasonably safe, and personal injury suits in New York run against a statute of limitations that sets a filing deadline.

Estate matters reach the firm as probate litigation and will contests, where someone challenges how an estate is being handled or whether a will holds up. Real estate work covers property litigation along with commercial lease disputes and evictions. The firm also takes labor and employment matters, banking disputes, zoning issues and Article 78 proceedings. Employment matters can involve wage claims, discrimination or wrongful termination, and zoning disputes touch how land can be used.

The attorneys named on the site

The firm lists two attorneys, Terry Kirwan and Andy Feinberg. Their work overlaps on business and litigation, and each brings a separate set of practice areas. Both earned their law degrees at Albany Law School. One leads the firm, and the other works as Of Counsel.

Terry Kirwan

Terry Kirwan is the founder and, by the firm's account, brings more than 30 years of trial experience. He earned his Juris Doctor from Albany Law School of Union University in 1990 and was admitted in New York in 1991. His courtroom work covers commercial and banking disputes, labor and employment matters, personal injury claims, and zoning and real property issues.

On the business side, he represents companies through formation, operations, disputes and sales, which lines up with the firm's commercial focus. He has argued at trial and appellate levels in state and federal courts, including the New York Court of Appeals, the state's highest court. A lawyer who has stood before that court has carried cases well past the trial stage.

Andy Feinberg

R. Andrew Feinberg is Of Counsel at the firm. He holds a Juris Doctor from Albany Law School, a Master of Business Administration from Syracuse University, and a B.A. and B.S. from Wilkes University. His practice covers civil litigation, employment law, municipal law, business and commercial law, insurance defense, products liability, and real estate.

The Of Counsel title marks a steady working relationship with the firm that sits apart from partnership. His municipal law and insurance defense work widens what a two-lawyer roster can take on, and the business degree pairs with the firm's commercial matters. The two attorneys share a law school, which gives the roster a common grounding.

Trial and appellate reach

The firm leads with litigation, and the founder's record carries that. Trial work and appellate work are separate crafts: a trial builds a record of facts, and an appeal argues that a lower court read the law wrong. Terry Kirwan's biography places him at both levels, in state and federal courts alike.

An appeal to the New York Court of Appeals reaches the top of the state system, and only a share of cases get that far. Federal court adds another layer, since business disputes can land there when parties sit in different states or a federal law applies. For a client, an attorney with appellate hours means the firm can keep a case moving after a trial verdict lands.

How some of these matters proceed

Several of these practice areas follow set procedures in New York. Article 78 proceedings let a person challenge a decision made by a state or local government agency, and they run in the courts under a set part of the state's civil practice rules. Zoning issues often begin before a local zoning board of appeals, and a court steps in only if that stage leaves the question open. The rules for these proceedings are set by statute, and the deadlines run tight, so early filing matters.

Will contests and other probate disputes run through Surrogate's Court, which handles estates county by county across the state. Commercial lease disputes and evictions move through the courts that hear landlord and tenant cases, on a faster timetable than most civil suits. As a reviewer, I read this spread of civil and commercial areas as the mark of a broad general practice. The site names Terry Kirwan and Andy Feinberg as the two attorneys behind that work.