Maureen T. Alston
Managing partner

phone: 585-231-1250
fax: 585-232-2152
location: Rochester

Practice Areas

• Higher Education
• Labor and Employment
• Litigation

Bar Admissions

• New York

Professional Experience

Firm Administration
Maureen T. Alston is HSE’s Managing Partner. She was elected to the three-year post in February 2004 after having served for several years as co-chair of the firm’s Employment Law and Litigation groups and member of its Management Committee. Maureen is currently serving her second term as the Managing Partner of the firm. She is the first woman to serve as Managing Partner in the firm’s 116-year history.

In her full-time role as Managing Partner, Maureen provides leadership and direction to the firm’s 140-plus attorneys and nearly 200 staff members that comprise the region’s most dynamic corporate law firm. She oversees HSE’s four-office operations, working closely with the Management Committee and senior staff to provide operational support in human resources, finance, marketing, records management, and information technology.

Under her leadership, the firm has developed and adopted a fully integrated strategic plan and launched a number of primary initiatives. Maureen has made ensuring diversity in the firm’s workforce a high priority. She has been instrumental in implementing several new programs including the establishment of a Diversity Scholarship Program at New York law schools and enhancing the firm’s longtime association with the Rochester City School District including the Marshall High School Law Academy.

During Maureen’s tenure, the firm has deepened its longstanding commitment to a service delivery model that is built upon collaboration and delivery of cost-effective legal services of the highest quality. HSE rejects traditional notions of attribution and billing credit to partners in favor of a model that ensures that each client matter is handled by qualified legal staff at the appropriate level of experience. This approach has created an environment at the firm that is responsive and yields excellent and cost-effective results for our clients.

The firm’s collaborative environment also provides significant opportunities and benefits to our associates, giving them access to clients and to challenging work at an early moment in their careers. Our associates understand and appreciate this difference, as evidenced by HSE’s ranking as #1 in the nation for three consecutive years (2004-2006) in The American Lawyer survey of associate satisfaction.

Our clients have also weighed in, acknowledging the difference HSE provides in quality of work, level of service and depth of relationship. In the three years the analysis was conducted in Rochester (2002-2004), directors of publicly held companies surveyed by Corporate Board Member Magazine ranked the firm #1.

Legal Experience
A partner in the firm since 1993, prior to her election as Managing Partner Maureen concentrated her legal practice in employment litigation, higher education law and business litigation matters.

Education

• University of Buffalo, J.D., cum laude, 1982
• Nazareth College, B.A., cum laude, 1970

Court Admissions

• New York State courts
• United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
• United States District Court, Western District of New York
• United States District Court, Northern District of New York
• United States District Court, Eastern District of New York
• United States District Court, Southern District of New York

Professional and Civic Activities

• Managing Partner, Harter Secrest & Emery LLP, February 2004-present
• Member, Management Committee, Harter Secrest & Emery LLP
• Former Co-Chair, Employment Law and Litigation Practice Group, Harter Secrest & Emery LLP
• Former Unit Manager, Litigation Unit, Harter Secrest & Emery LLP
• Cabinet Member, Campaign for Justice, 2007 and 2008
• Secretary, Board of Trustees, Nazareth College
• Former Member, Board of Trustees, Rochester Business Alliance
• Secretary, Board of Trustees, Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School
• Former Director, Susan B. Anthony House, Inc.
• Member, Board of Directors, United Way of Greater Rochester
• Former Member, Advisory Board, Center for Youth Services, Inc.
• Advisory Board, Dr. Pamela York Klainer Center for Women and Business, State University of New York at Geneseo School of Business
• Former Director and Senior Vice Chair, Women’s Foundation of Genesee Valley
• Graduate, Leadership Rochester (Class of 1993)
• Former President and Board Member, Center for Youth Services, Inc. (1984-1993)

Honors and Awards

• Recipient, Rochester Black Bar Association Champion of Diversity Award (2007)
• Listed in Super Lawyers, Employment Litigation: Defense category (2007, 2008, 2009)
• Nominee, Athena Award (2006, 1999)
• Recipient, Outstanding Alumni Award, Nazareth College (2004)
• Named one of 20 “Most Influential Women,” Rochester Business Journal (2005)
• Recipient, New York State Bar Association’s President’s Pro Bono Service Award (1989)
• Recipient, the McKnight Volunteer Service Award, Volunteer Legal Services Project of Monroe County, Inc.