Amherst Town Justice Hon. Mark Farrell received the distinguished service award from the New York State Magistrates Association at the organization's 99th annual meeting in Niagara Falls. The organization represents 2,200 town and village judges in roughly 1,250 courts in New York.

Now outgoing president, Farrell implemented a new communications system for the association. He also created a support mechanism for the Office of Court Administration's new action plan to support the states's local courts. He served on the Special Commission on the Future of New York State Courts, or Dunne Commission.

An Amherst Town justice since 1994, Farrell created the first suburban drug court in the United States in 1996, the first domestic-violence court in Erie County in 1997 and the world's first, and still only, gambling treatment court in 2001.

Area law firm opens Wheatfield office

Friedman & Ranzenhofer PC has expanded into Niagara County with the opening of a Wheatfield office at 2768 Niagara Falls Blvd.

The firm, founded in 1955, also has offices in Akron, Batavia, Buffalo, Clarence and West Seneca. Attorneys Michael Ranzenhofer and Robert Friedman are managing partners of the firm.

For more information, see www.wny-lawyers.com.

Edwin Bean wins Red Jacket honor

The Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society will award one of two Red Jacket Awards for 2008 to Hodgson Russ LLP Partner Edwin Bean Jr. Oct. 16. The award, named for a Seneca orator and leader, is given annually in recognition of "quiet, continued, unbroken devotion to civic progress."

Bean wrote legislation, which became law in 1964, to require medical personnel to report abuse or neglect of children. He served as president of the Children's Aid and Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children of Erie County and helped oversee its merger with the Family Service Society of Buffalo to become Child & Family Services, where he is a board member.

Bean also helped establish the Stanley G. Falk School for severely emotionally handicapped students, where he is a trustee, and served as a trustee for the Gow School. In 2002, he and his wife, Susan, were named National Philanthropy Day distinguished honorees by the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

A partner in Hodgson Russ' intellectual- property/technology practice group, Bean has been an adjunct faculty member at the University at Buffalo Law School since 1987.

Harris Beach opens Albany-region office

Harris Beach PLLC has opened a Saratoga Springs office. The firm plans to use the location to expand services throughout the Capital Region, the Adirondacks and the Hudson Valley.

The firm also has offices in Albany, New York City, Buffalo, Ithaca, Niagara Falls, Rochester, Syracuse and Yonkers, in New York, and in Newark, N.J.

Lipsitz & Ponterio launches new Web site

Lipsitz & Ponterio LLC launched a redesigned Web site, www.lipsitzponterio.com.

The site includes information about the firm's practice areas, lawyers, and worker job sites as well as information about mesothelioma and toxic torts. Video footage features area workers describing their trades.

Established in 1995, the firm concentrates its practice in the areas of asbestos disease and lead-poisoning litigation, medical malpractice, insurance liability, personal injury and worker's compensation matters.

- Compiled by Jodi Sokolowski