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We are pleased to announce that Michaels Bersani Kalabanka P.C. has been recognized as a “Tier 1” law firm (top category) in three areas of litigation in the 2024 edition of Best Law Firms Rankings®: Personal Injury, product liability and professional malpractice.

We have lost track of how many years in a row we have been ranked in Best Law Firms, but it’s quite a few!

In addition, our attorney Mike Bersani has once again been recognized this year as the “the Lawyer of the Year” for representing victims of professional malpractice in the Syracuse metropolitan area. This is the third time in four years that he has been named “the best lawyer” in the category of personal injury or professional malpractice by Best Lawyers in America®

Michaels Bersani Kalabanka proudly announces that all three of its lawyers – Lee Michaels, David Kalabanka, and Michael Bersani – have once again been recognized as “Best Lawyers” in this year’s Best Lawyers in America publication. The Best Lawyers awards are based entirely on peer review. That means that other lawyers, and judges, rate the skill and ability of the lawyers who appear in the publication.

Michaels Bersani Kalabanka is a boutique personal injury and professional malpractice law firm based in Auburn, just outside of Syracuse. Other lawyers, and judges, have for many years given us the high ratings that allow us to appear in Best Lawyers in America in recognition of our excellence in representing personal injury and professional malpractice victims.

In addition, Michael Bersani was selected this year as “Lawyer of the Year” for representing professional malpractice victims. This is the third time in four years that Michael Bersani has received a “Lawyer of the Year” award either for representing personal injury or professional malpractice victims.

photo by V. Renee Photography

We’re Auburn’s homegrown personal injury law firm. But our clients come from all over, including Syracuse and Rochester, because of our reputation. But we are not the only big-time homegrown business in this small town. From time to time we like to check out our fellow Auburn success stories. So I recently “zoomed” in for a conversation with Gwen Webber-McLeod, President/CEO another amazing Auburn success story:  Gwen,Inc.

MIKE: Gwen, right from the start, what does Gwen, Inc. do?

At Michaels Bersani Kalabanka, we were glad to reopen our office to the public on June 5th in compliance with the New York State Phase 2 guidelines. Although the office is now “open for business”, we will continue to offer virtual appointments for clients who prefer to stay home.  The health and safety of our clients and staff is our first priority, so we are actually encouraging “virtual” meetings rather than in person meetings for the time being.  But the choice is yours!  Please call 315-253-3293 or email us at reception@mbk-law.com  to schedule an appointment and specify whether you prefer to “meet” with your attorney by telephone or in person or by a virtual format such as skype or Facetime or Zoom.

You can view our in-office COVID 19 office policies below.  We hope to see you soon!

GUIDELINES FOR IN-PERSON APPOINTMENTS

Not trying to brag or boast or “holier-than-Thou” anyone, but I just need to say how proud I am to be part of a personal injury law firm that doesn’t see money as the be-all-and-end-all of the practice of law.  And yes, there are plenty of personal injury firms that do.  Not us.  Not Michaels Bersani Kalabanka.  We are damn good at what we do, second to none, in the personal injury litigation field.  Our results are outstanding.  Look us up.  Ask around.  You’ll see. But besides being damn good at what we do, we also try to be just plain “good”.  And sometimes folks notice and we end up getting awards for it.  Like the one in these recent photos:

Call us old-fashioned, but we still see the practice of law as a service, not just a money-making machine.  We treat each client as a human being, whether their case is large or small, whether we stand to make lots, or little, or no money at all representing them.  I mean this when I say it – it is NOT about the money.  It is about helping people.  I won’t lie – we make a good living at this.  But the money not only allows us to live comfortably and bring up our families in financial security, it also allows us to give more back to our communities.

Helping our injured clients is not enough.  There are many people of limited means who need legal help for reasons other than having suffered injuries.  That’s why a couple of times a month, at prearranged times, our lawyers sit at Auburn’s public library for two-hour stretches to give completely free legal advice to any stranger who shows up.  It’s called the “Volunteer Lawyers Project”.  The program is well publicized in Cayuga County, where our main office sits, so we get plenty of takers.  If we can’t help the folks who walk in to see us because their problem is not in our wheel house, we figure out how to get them to cheap or free legal help elsewhere.  If we can help them, we do.

In just two days America will be reveling in “Black Monday” (like Black Friday but for online purchases).  In the old days of Christmases past, when parents and others actually went to something called a “store” to choose toys for their tots, a parent could often spot for herself a lurking danger.  For example, he or she could see if small parts might be removable and thus pose a choking hazard.  But now, with more and more people doing “Cyber shopping” , some of a toy’s more obvious safety flaws are less obvious.

Never fear!  Safe shopping can be done online, with a little help from our friend “WATCH“.  For more than 40 years this not-for-profit group (acronym for “World Against Toys Causing Harm”) has published an annual “top-WATCH-OUT list” of potentially dangerous toys.

Here’s an example (from this year’s list):  a toy called “Pull-Along Pony” marketed for children over one-year old but has a pull chord  19 inches long (strangulation hazard).  More examples:  A fidget spinner with small, removable parts (choking hazard).  A Spider-Man drone with rotating blades just the right size to enter an eye socket.