Boylan Code celebrates 50 years of service to the Rochester area

On April 1, 1974, six young lawyers left Wiser, Shaw, Freeman, Van Graafeiland, Harter & Secrest to form their own partnership in the Ebeneezer Watts Building in downtown Rochester.

The original law office was opened under the name Beyma, Brown, Code, Lumsden, Randall & Wilson (Michael J. Beyma, Robert E. Brown, Ralph J. Code III, Dennis J. Lumsden, Robert G. Randall, and John M. Wilson II).

Over the years, the firm has been known by a few different names, but it survives today as the local institution of Boylan Code LLP, celebrating its 50^th anniversary.

For the Rochester legal community, it was the first time a brash group of associates ventured out on their own after just four years with the large firm now known as Harter Secrest & Emery LLP.

“We left on April Fool’s Day, so everyone thought it was a joke initially,” said Ralph J. “Buzz” Code III, the only remaining founding partner.

“We left without a client in the world. We started out thinking we could do it better. We just wanted to do our own thing,” he said.

“I think we just thought we had ideas that we could do it better. One thing I found out about myself is I have a hard time working for someone else,” Code said.

Boylan Code now has 22 lawyers offering comprehensive legal support across a wide spectrum of practice areas, including bankruptcy and restructuring, business and finance, education, elder law, employment, entertainment, intellectual property, litigation, Medicaid planning and eligibility, municipal, real estate, trusts and estates, and tax law and planning.

“Over the past five decades, we have had the privilege of serving our clients with integrity and professionalism. Our success is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our talented team, as well as the trust and confidence bestowed upon us by our clients and partners,” Code said.

The firm has three locations in western New York. The main office is on Culver Road in Rochester; with offices also in Newark and Canandaigua.

“What’s very important to us is culture. We’ve always wanted to have a collegial culture, a place where people would want to come and work,” Code said.

“We’ve always had very strong family values. Family is very important to all of our attorneys. And we’re very accommodating to women lawyers,” he said.

Partner Alan S. Lockwood said the firm is “a very democratic organization.”

“The firm is very cognizant of the work-life dichotomy and very quick to support people who have family obligations. The people that choose to work here choose it for those reasons,” Lockwood said.

[email protected] / (585) 232-2035