Helping clients chart a course through the phases of life. Managing and protecting wealth through several generations. Counseling families on the difficult decisions of eldercare. Planning the future of a family business. Rachel Brody Bandych handles these and other sensitive legal issues for our Trust and Estates Practice Group. In addition to her legal expertise, Rachel's extensive management and administrative experience makes her an ideal candidate for handling the myriad details of estate planning and wealth management. Her experience working with the Federal Courts also affords her a high level of expertise in litigation, arbitration and mediation.
After graduating from Mount Holyoke College, Boston University School of Law, and the Cornell University School of Industrial Labor Relations and Alternative Dispute Resolution Studies Program, Rachel served as a confidential law clerk to the Honorable Michael A. Telesca.
After completing her term as a law clerk to Judge Telesca, Rachel spent seven years as the Deputy Clerk in Charge of the United States District Court for the Western District of NY, where she was responsible for the management of daily operations and providing administrative support to five federal judges. She played a key role in improving court administration, including the implementation of a courtwide electronic case filing system, and conducted training programs for practicing attorneys on a variety of issues.
Prior to her appointment as Deputy Clerk in Charge, for five years Rachel served as the Civil Justice Reform Act Attorney for the United States District Court for the Western District of NY. In this role, she assisted in developing the court's cost and delay reduction plan as required by the Civil Justice Reform Act of 1990. She also coordinated arbitration and mediation programs, drafted amendments to rules of procedure, and trained lawyers on case management issues, pro se procedures, alternative dispute resolution and local rules of procedure. In addition, she served as Special Master in a class action employment lawsuit pending before the Court. In private practice, Rachel has been an attorney for The Somerset Firm and Harris Beach and Wilcox.
Rachel has won numerous awards, including the Monroe County Bar Association's President's Award, the United States Courts Second Circuit Merit Award, and the Rochester Business Journal's "Forty Under 40" Award. She is an active member of the New York State Bar Association's Trusts and Estates and Elder Law sections and Committee on Law Practice Continuity, the Monroe County Bar Association, the Estate Planning Council of Rochester, the Greater Rochester Association of Women Attorneys, and the Women's Bar Association of New York.
An avid golfer, Rachel loves to travel and devotes much of her spare time to community service. She is a board member and chair of the Planned Giving Committee of Lifespan, a board member of St. Ann’s Foundation, a member of the University of Rochester School of Nursing National Council, a member of the emeritus board of the Susan B. Anthony House, and a member of the Monroe County Humane Society at Lollypop Farm Planned Giving Advisory Committee.
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