City to get new lawyers
By Rick Pfeiffer
Tuesday, June 22, 2026

BY RICK PFEIFFER

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By a narrow 3 to 2 margin, the Niagara Falls City Council has approved a request by Mayor Vince Anello to hire an outside law firm to handle several matters for the city.

The firm, Underberg & Kessler, will be retained to handle discrimination lawsuits filed by former City Clerk Cynthia Baxter and six employees of the city’s Department of Public Works, known as the Niagara Falls 6.

In addition to the two discrimination suits, the Rochester based law firm, which also has offices in Buffalo, will review the city’s leases with Cordish Development for the operation of the Rainbow Centre Mall. The firm also will examine the Nation-State Gaming Compact between the Seneca Nation of Indians and the State of New York.

Anello, who as a member of the City Council railed against the hiring of Albany based law firm Roemer, Wallens and Mineaux, defended his decision to ask for a new outside counsel for the city.

“These kind of cases are not routine and should get the attention of a specialist,” Anello said.

“ I don’t think the taxpayers of Niagara Falls deserve any less than (the plaintiffs) in these cases and I believe they (Baxter and the Niagara Falls 6) have retained a specialist.”

Anello also said there was a difference in hiring Underberg to handle four specific cases and hiring Roemer, who was hired to handle all the city’s labor matters.

“With the labor issues, it was my contention that the city was picking fights with its unions,” Anello said. “That was very confrontational and the city lost most of those cases.”

However, one of the Council members who voted against the Underberg contract did draw parallels with Roemer. Councilman James Stewart said he was inspired to run for the Council because he was outraged over the Roemer deal.

“We lost a million bucks with those guys, $700,000 in the lawsuits and they charged us $300,000,” Stewart said. “I don’t want to hire any lawyer who I don’t know who they are and what they’re going to cost us.”

Councilwoman Candra Thomason also opposed hiring Underberg, though she said with more background information, she might change her view.

“Until I have further information that I requested from (City Corporation Counsel Ronald) Anton, I don’t have enough information to vote on this,” Thomason said.

A retainer agreement, provided to the Council by city lawyers, shows that the city will be billed at an hourly rate of $195 for work by partners and senior attorneys at the firm, between $145 and $190 an hour for work by associate attorneys and between $80 and $120 an hour for work by paralegals. The city can cancel the contract with the firm “at any time.”

“You’ll see there will be a cap on this,” said Councilman Lewis “Babe” Rotella, who voted in favor of hiring Underberg. “It’s not an open checkbook. There will be checks and balances. They will report back to us on what they’re doing and the costs.”

Anton said the city had no choice, but to hire an outside lawyer to handle the Baxter lawsuit.

“We are representing her in actions brought against her under the previous administration,” Anton said. “That creates a conflict of interest.”

Anello argued the similarity between Baxter’s claims and those of the Niagara Falls 6, made it sensible to have one attorney handle both cases. He also said the three lawyers, including Anton, who make up the city Law Department, don’t have enough time to devote to issues like the Rainbow Mall and the casino gaming contracts.

“That office has been meagerly staffed for so long, one lawyer handles City Court and labor issues, another handles contracts and the Council and Mr. Anton supervises and assists them,” Anello said. “These are not just complex cases, they are labor intensive too. It’s not something you can do part time.”
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