Bartley J. Costello III serves as Senior Counsel to the firm. For more than fifty years of practice at the firm he has chaired the litigation and labor departments where he served statewide public and private sector clients in collective bargaining, disciplinary proceedings and litigation. He also represented several clients before the New York State Legislature, the Governor’s Office and state regulatory agencies.
Today he specializes in board governance issues for not-for-profit corporations.
He served as lead counsel before the New York State Court of Appeals in a trilogy of primary cases involving governmental authority which: limited the use of executive power by the Governor; established boundaries for state agency authority and curtailed the State Comptroller’s jurisdiction. In addition, Mr. Costello served as counsel in litigation before the United States Supreme Court that upheld the New York State hospital reimbursement system, reversing lower court rulings.
Mr. Costello has been Martindale-Hubbell “AV” rated as a preeminent lawyer for over 40 years.
Mr. Costello has served on and chaired many boards of directors and currently chairs the Destroyer Escort Historical Museum and the Government Law Center at Albany Law School while serving on the Maria College and Hope House boards.
He served as an officer in the United States Navy where he was awarded the Navy Commendation Medal with Combat “V” for actions in the Vietnam War.