We are proud to announce that once again all four lawyers in the Michaels Bersani Kalabanka team have been selected by other New York lawyers and New York judges for inclusion in “Best Lawyers in America”. The 2020 edition of the publication names all four partners, Lee Michaels, Jan Smolak, Mike Bersani, and Dave Kalabanka “Best Lawyers” in the Syracuse metropolitan area for representing injured plaintiffs in three categories:  Personal injury, professional malpractice and products liability. Senior partner Lee Michaels has been named in the publication for decades, and the other partners have been included since 2012.  All four lawyers have argued and tried personal injury and malpractice cases in courts all over Upstate New York, and each of them have settled or received multi-million dollar verdicts. Lee Michaels, the firm’s senior partner, says, “I am very honored that the law firm my father started decades ago is considered one of the best of the best in Upstate New York for personal injury practice.”  Dave Kalabanka, another M&S partner, responded to the news, saying, “folks who are injured through the fault of others often come to us in desperate economic circumstances, hoping we can save them from ruin. And more often than not, we do save them.  Getting justice for our clients is its own best reward.  But this continued recognition from our peers is great to have.”  M&S partner Jan Smolak noted that “being top-ranked in a publication like Best Lawyers is not only good for us, it’s good for our clients.  Our reputation breeds more success for our clients because the lawyers and insurance adjusters we are up against can see that we are tough and successful, and they are thus more likely to want to settle with us for larger amounts so as to avoid trial”. The American Lawyer magazine describes the Best Lawyers publication as “the most respected referral list of attorneys in practice.”  All four lawyers at Michaels Bersani Kalabanka are also named in “Super Lawyers”, another prestigious directory of top lawyers.

Mike Bersani

Email me at: bersani@mbk-law.com

As a New York personal injury lawyer, I know that words are weapons.  When I prepare to try a personal injury lawsuit, I arm myself with the word-weapons I will parade before the jury.  They are arrows in my quiver.  I carefully pick them, and fine tune, and then deploy them.  I am the general, the commander, and they are my infantry, my soldiers. Below I will give you some examples of how I choose and deploy my soldiers for battle.

But before I do, let me tell you that words are also my enemies.  Certain words will forever be banned from my trial lexicon.  The prime example is the word “accident”.  Whether my client was injured in a car collision, or in a scaffold collapse, or slipped and fell in a supermarket, you can sit through the entire trial and never hear the word “accident” spill out of my lips.  I will never say “car accident”.  I will say “collision” or “crash”.

Why?  The whole premise of a personal injury trial is that the plaintiff’s horrific injuries were no “accident” at all.  They were caused by the NEGLIGENCE or CARELESSNESS of the defendant.  The word “accident” implies that no one is to blame.  An accident simply happens.  In popular jargon, this is expressed as , “s_ _ _ happens”.  The whole point of my personal injury trial is to prove that s_ _ _ did not just “happen”.  Rather, the defendant MADE it happen by CHOOSING to cut corners, not pay attention, allow himself to be distracted, or whatever.

Becky Kinney                                                           Michel Tortorello

This Syracuse/Auburn NY injury lawyer is proud of his staff!  Before I tell you why, let me give you a little background.

First, working in a New York personal injury firm, whether in the Syracuse area or elsewhere, is stressful.  Litigation can be intense.  The pressure to get papers out on time, and in perfect order, is sometimes overwhelming.  When an attorney is about to go to trial, reams of binders, exhibits, and copies must be produced.  And you know who gets stuck with all that hard work?  The lawyers?  Hell no!  Staff.  And who has to deal with a stressed-out-on-edge lawyer?  Staff.

We are proud to announce that U.S. News & World Report  has once again honored Michaels Bersani Kalabanka with its “first tier” ranking in its “Best Lawyers in America” listings for personal injury litigation firms in the Syracuse, New York metropolitan area. In the 2019 edition, just as past editions, the firm was ranked “first-tier” in the categories of both “personal injury” and “product liability”.

These days, personal injury trial lawyers like us are bombarded with letters and “announcements” notifying us that we have been selected as part of an “elite group” of trial lawyers.  These letters go on to tout the very “stringent requirements” that attorneys must meet in order to qualify for the elite listing.  Only a very small percentage of lawyers, the letters say, have been selected.  And guess what?  YOU have been selected!

There’s only one hitch:  You have to pay for it.  These type of “award” or “honor” letters almost always end with a sentence like this: “to have your name registered as a member of this select group of top attorneys, simply make payment of (a few hundred dollars) to ____”.