Mr. Brown received his Juris Doctorate from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1996 and his bachelor’s degree in Political Science from S.U.N.Y. New Paltz in 1993. Mr. Brown has been a trial and appellate practice attorney since entering the practice of law.

He served three years as an attorney in the U.S. Army JAG Corps after law school where he engaged in a variety of roles, including counseling soldiers regarding wills, divorce, child support, creditor issues, and bankruptcy, as well as representing the Department of the Army in Federal Tort Claims Act claims and prosecuting misdemeanors in federal court. Prior to coming to Ernstrom & Dreste, Mr. Brown was a municipal attorney for the City of Rochester.

Mr. Brown has extensive litigation experience defending clients in employment matters including disability discrimination, racial discrimination, sexual harassment, and wage and hour claims, as well as representing clients in civil rights, contract disputes, commercial, design professional, property tax assessment, complex multi-party asbestos, and personal injury litigation in both federal and state courts. In addition, he has extensive advocacy experience at arbitration and before the NYS Retirement Systems, Division of Human Rights, NLRB, New York Public Employment Relations Board and EEOC, as well as extensive experience counseling employers regarding labor matters.

Practice Areas:

• Construction and Surety Law
• Alternative Dispute Resolution
• Construction Litigation
• Commercial Litigation
• Arbitration, Mediation and Other Alternative Dispute Resolution
• Construction Liens
• Contractor Bonds (Performance, Payment, Bid, Lien Discharge, Labor Benefits, etc.)
• Public Construction Law
• Construction Labor Law
• Fidelity and Surety Bonds
• Guardianship, Probate and other Miscellaneous Bonds
• Employment litigation
• Labor

Court Admissions:

• New York State Courts
• U.S. District Court, Northern, and Western Districts of New York
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit

Reported Cases include:

Tougher Industries v. Board of Education, 286 A.D.2d 880 (4th Dep’t 2001); Santiago v. City of Rochester, 5 Misc 3d 1027A (2004), affirmed 19 A.D.3d 1061 (4th Dep’t 2005); Sands v. City of Rochester, 21 Misc. 3d 112A (2004), affirmed 38 A.D.3d 1174 (4th Dep’t 2007); McTiernen v. City of Rochester, 4 A.D.3d 805 (4th Dep’t 2004); Rizzo v. Edison, Inc. et al, 419 F.Supp. 2d 338 (W.D.N.Y. 2006), affirmed 2006 U.S. App. LEXIS 9003 (2d Cir. 2006); Yaman v. D’Angelo, 420 F. Supp. 2d 114 (W.D.N.Y. 2005); Doe V. Green, 593 F. Supp. 2d 523 (W.D.N.Y. 2009); Lieberman v. City of Rochester, et al., 621 F. Supp. 2d 418 (W.D.N.Y. 2010); Hernandez v. City of Rochester, 86 Fed. Appx. 460 (2004).

Professional Associations:

• Monroe County Bar Association
• New York State Bar Association
• American Bar Association