Harrington & Mahoney came into existence in 1995 when two lawyers,
each well known throughout New York as criminal defense lawyers,
inevitably joined forces.
Jim Harrington, a graduate of the University at Buffalo Law School
and LeMoyne College, had already been in private practice for 26 years.
He began in 1969 as an attorney with Neighborhood Legal Services,
providing legal services for the poor in civil matters. He then entered
private practice, concentrating on criminal law, also serving as
confidential law clerk to Judge J. Douglas Trost, Erie County Family
Court Judge, from 1978-1980.
One of Jim Harrington's initial high profile cases was in the
defense of Owen Carron, a member of the British Parliament, and a leader
of Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland. Carron was arrested while attempting
to enter the United States from Canada. Arrested with Carron was Danny
Morrison, another leader in Sinn Fein. Morrison, it turns out, was
represented by Mark Mahoney. That was in 1982.
Mark Mahoney was graduated from Notre Dame University, in 1971, and
the University at Buffalo Law School. He had been a criminal defense
lawyer since 1974, beginning as a clerk, then associate and then partner
with the firm of Doyle, Diebold & Bermingham. Vincent E. Doyle, Jr.
and Joseph D. Bermingham were two of the most prominent criminal
defense lawyers in Buffalo, and both were leaders in the state and local
bar associations. The firm continued, first as Diebold, Bermingham,
Gorman, Brown & Bridge, after Mr. Doyle was elected to the New York
Supreme Court in 1988, where he continued as a Justice until his
untimely death in 2006. Bermingham, Cook & Mahoney was formed in
1989, but Mr. Mahoney left that firm and did what he had hoped to do for
some time, form a partnership with Jim Harrington. Together they took
over the offices of Mark's former law firm in Buffalo's historic Statler
Towers.
Our two associates in the firm, Kelly Ball and Ellen Poch came to us
from other firms and each has garnered extensive experience in the
handling of both criminal and family law matters.
