Jody Briandi of Hurwitz & Fine.

Hurwitz & Fine, a Buffalo-based firm with about 50 lawyers that handles insurance defense, commercial litigation and corporate work, has named Jody Briandi its next managing partner.

Briandi, who leads the firm's premises liability and retail and hospitality liability practices, is set to take the reins of the firm May 1. She said in an interview that she started her career there in 1997 and hopes to continue to grow its practice areas, geographic footprint and profitability.

She is the third managing partner in Hurwitz & Fine's history, according to a firm representative. Ann Evanko, an employment and commercial litigator who has been managing partner since 2008, will pivot to leading the firm's employment group and focus on building her mediation and alternative dispute resolution practice.

"The firm has an excellent and strong foundation," Briandi said. "We engage in both [litigation and corporate work], so we have a very wide and varied client base."

Briandi said the firm has nearly doubled in size since Evanko took the reins and she wants the firm to continue growing. Apart from its Buffalo headquarters, the firm lists offices in Albany, in the Long Island hamlet of Melville, and in seven other locations. Briandi said the firm's litigation practice tallied 35 to 40 lawyers and its corporate department was around 10 or 12.

She said a committee of the firm evaluated her and other candidates over the course of eight months and she was approved by the firm's shareholders at the end of that process. Her leadership term is five years, with the prospect of a second term, and she will work with a four-person board and a chief operating officer to run the firm starting May 1, she said.

Asked about growth opportunities, Briandi said the firm's partners contributed ideas about areas of practice and new cities to expand to and said clients are always "looking for ways to create more efficient business models." Some seek alternative fee arrangements, she said, and other clients are looking for efficiency gains that could be had with artificial intelligence. Briandi said the firm wasn't yet piloting or deploying any such technology.

"We are at a researching and exploration stage, but have our eyes and ears open," she said.