ALBANY — Whiteman Osterman & Hanna LLP, the Capital Region’s largest law firm, announces that Mackenzie Brennan, Samantha Choppa and Marcos Grael have joined the firm as associates.
Brennan graduated, magna cum laude, from the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law earning her Juris Doctorate and graduated, cum laude, from Villanova University with a B.A. in Communications and a Double Minor in Political Science and Spanish. Upon graduating law school, Brennan was inducted as a member of the Order of the Coif, a national honor society for United States law school graduates. While in law school, Brennan served as the Managing Editor of Research and Writing for the Villanova Law Review and as a Teaching Assistant for first year Civil Procedure and Legal Writing students. Her previous legal experience includes serving as a judicial intern with the Honorable Chief Judge Juan R. Sánchez, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, as a legal intern with the New York State Office of the Attorney General, Appeals and Opinions Bureau, and as a Summer Associate at Whiteman Osterman & Hanna.
Choppa is a graduate of George Mason University Law School where she earned her Juris Doctorate and a graduate of Purchase College where she earned a B.A. in Art History, magna cum laude. Choppa served as a legal intern for the New York State Office of the Inspector General, and was a law clerk at McNamee Lochner, P.C., prior to joining Whiteman Osterman & Hanna.
Grael graduated summa cum laude from Albany Law School of Union University earning his Juris Doctorate and graduated with a B.A., valedictorian and summa cum laude, from the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs & Policy at University at Albany (SUNY) with a Major in Political Science and concentration in Public Law. Previously, Grael served as a judicial intern with the Honorable Mae A. D’Agostino, U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of New York and was a Law Clerk and Summer Associate at Whiteman Osterman & Hanna. Prior to joining the Firm, Grael worked as a law clerk at the Immigration Law Clinic, Justice Center at Albany Law School where he won the Outstanding Clinical Student Award for his work in representing immigrant clients. Born and raised in Sao Paulo Brazil, Grael speaks fluent Portuguese.