Harter Secrest & Emery LLP, a full-service business law firm with offices throughout New York, is pleased to announce that Craig S. Wittlin has been selected for a second consecutive year by the Rochester Business Journal and The Daily Record as one of the region’s power players in the legal industry and named to the publications’ Power 50 Law list.
The Power 50 Law list showcases power players in the Western New York legal community who are leaders of law firms and others who are in industry leadership positions such as judges, civil legal service leaders, law school deans, bar association directors, and more. The honorees are admired and respected for their business knowledge, leadership, and influence within their communities.
Wittlin joined Harter Secrest & Emery in 1992 and was elected Managing Partner in 2016. As Managing Partner, he oversees the operation of Harter Secrest & Emery’s five offices and provides strategic leadership and direction to the firm’s approximately 130 lawyers and a total staff of 250. He is responsible for implementing and achieving the firm’s strategic plan, which focuses on providing differentiated, high-value service to clients through a commitment to teamwork, excellence, and entrepreneurship.
In addition to serving as Managing Partner, Wittlin also maintains an active corporate law and M&A practice. He advises clients on a wide range of matters including mergers, acquisitions, and capital markets transactions. Over the last decade, Wittlin has led teams on transactions with an aggregate value of more than $10 billion. Most recently, Wittlin led the team of HSE attorneys engaged as lead counsel in the merger of Tops Markets and The Golub Corporation, which was awarded the Corporate/Strategic Deal of the Year (Over $1B) at the 2022 Annual M&A Advisor Awards. He also has substantial experience advising executives and board members of Fortune 500 and Fortune 1000 companies on matters related to corporate governance, risk assessment, and disclosure obligations under federal securities laws.
Wittlin has been the recipient of several awards/recognitions, including for the past four years being the only attorney in Upstate New York to be recognized as an Eminent Practitioner by Chambers USA, earning the recognition in the Mergers & Acquisitions field. Additionally, The Best Lawyers in America® has recognized Wittlin in the fields of Corporate Law and Mergers & Acquisition Law and recognized him as the Rochester area’s “Lawyer of the Year” for Mergers & Acquisition Law for 2016 and for Corporate Law in 2013. He has also been selected for inclusion in Super Lawyers each year since 2009. In 2020, Wittlin was named by The Daily Record as one of Rochester’s Attorneys of the Year. In 2021 he was named to The Daily Record’s Power 50 in Law and Rochester Business Journal’s Power 30 in Law lists. He was also a 2004 recipient of the Forty Under 40 Award from the Rochester Business Journal.
A graduate of Syracuse University and Albany Law School, he has served in leadership positions with many community organizations, including the Louis S. Wolk Jewish Community Center of Greater Rochester, Town of Inlet Historical Society, Geva Theatre Center, YMCA’s Camp Gorham, and CP Rochester.
Harter Secrest & Emery Corporate attorneys counsel public and private companies on a full spectrum of corporate legal needs including mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, strategic alliances, entity formation, contract negotiations, corporate finance, and succession planning. Described by Chambers and Partners as “a leading name for major transactions, with a catalogue of high-value, impressive deals in its portfolio,” the group represents entrepreneurs and start-up organizations, to large private and public Fortune 100 companies.