Spiegel, Brown , Fichera & Acard

   Spiegel, Brown, Fichera & Acard, for over 40 years, has limited its practice to civil litigation matters. Each of the lawyers in the firm has considerable trial and appellate experience in such areas of litigation as personal injury, products liability, construction contract litigation, civil rights, and a wide variety of commercial litigation. The firm also specializes in professional malpractice defense, particularly in the area of architectural and engineering malpractice, attorney malpractice and malpractice claims involving real estate and insurance professionals. Each of the partners has had extensive experience in litigating multimillion-dollar lawsuits and serious exposure cases.

   Spiegel, Brown, Fichera & Acard pride themselves on being the antithesis of the "litigation mill." Rather, each case in the office is assigned to an individual attorney (almost always a partner) who handles that case from its inception to its conclusion. While each individual case has the benefit of the support and input of the entire legal staff, the firm believes that the method to best achieve optimum results and provide consistent client service is to have one lawyer responsible for the case throughout the life of the litigation.

   The firm of Spiegel, Brown, Fichera & Acard has recruited a top-flight professional staff of paralegals and in-house investigators who provide critical support for all legal matters. The use of paralegal/investigative staff enables the firm to efficiently and cost-effectively manage client matters with complete firm control to achieve the best results. Our entire in-house support staff consists of experienced personnel who have been with the firm for 3 to 20 years.

   Spiegel, Brown, Fichera & Acard first formed in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., in 1961 as a defense litigation firm with one primary client, the Travelers Insurance Company. Throughout the 1960s, the firm became the preferred defense counsel in the mid-Hudson Valley for a number of general and automobile insurance carriers. The firm continues to have the privilege of representing some of the leading insurers with respect to their defense work in our region (from Albany to New York City). Beginning in the late 1970s, the firm developed significant expertise and experience in handling product liability defense work for clients such as Ford Motor Company, North American Rockwell and Litton Industries. Construction contract litigation also developed as a firm specialty, beginning in the early 1980s, when the firm was retained as regional defense counsel for Design Professional Insurance Company, who insured architects and engineers.

   Over the past 20 years, the firm has continued to serve a wide variety of corporate and individual clients with respect to their litigation matters in virtually every category of civil litigation.

   In the late 1970s, the firm opened its Fishkill, NY, office to better serve clients in the southern part of the region; and that location continues to be a busy center of the firm's activity.

   The firm's partners have impressive legal and professional backgrounds: two of the partners have served as town justices in the area; one of the partners is a former president of the Dutchess County Bar Association; two of the partners are former assistant District Attorneys and several of the partners were editors on their Law Reviews. Most recently, the senior partner, Donald D. Brown Jr., has been nominated for membership in the American Board of Trial Advocates, an elite organization of top trial attorneys whose membership is based upon selection, rather than application. The partners have published articles and course materials and have lectured extensively in the area of civil litigation.

   Spiegel, Brown, Fichera & Acard, for more than 40 years, has dedicated itself to providing outstanding legal services at competitive hourly rates; and is proud of its extensive record of successful legal victories.

   For over 25 years, Spiegel, Brown, Fichera & Acard has been rated "AV" (the highest possible rating) by Martindale Hubbel, the leading evaluator of law firms in the United States.