By MATT CHANDLER
Buffalo Law Journal

Absolutely. Possibly. Too early to tell.

So say area lawyers when asked whether the stimulus plan will have a major impact on their clients.

Nick Sargent, managing partner of the Williamsville firm Sargent & Collins LLP, has already seen the positive effects of a provision that allows homeowners to refinance their home up to 105 percent. (The previous limit was 80 percent.)

"We have seen a 100 percent increase in our refinances," Sargent says. "It has been huge."

Sargent also likes the continuation of the $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers, calling it "a huge stimulus to get people who are renting to buy homes."

He notes that although the tax credit was already in place, its extension has resulted in "a decided increase in our business."

Sargent's firm has hired an additional attorney and two full-time paralegals to handle the increased workload.

While not all firms are seeing that kind of spike in business, several concur that the money will make a difference.

Dan Spitzer, a partner in the environment and energy group at Hodgson Russ LLP, is optimistic that the federal funds will have an impact here. In his area of expertise - municipal law - he expects some major benefits for his clients, and in turn, for Western New York.

"A significant portion of the actual construction funds are going into water- and sewer-type projects," Spitzer said. "It is going to fund improvements that would not have otherwise been funded."

So what does that mean for Spitzer's firm?

"We think there are clients - obviously in New York, but also all over the world - that we can assist," Spitzer says, adding that his firm has even fielded inquiries from its Canadian clients about possible benefits from the U.S. stimulus package. "We expect an international effect, although the economic opportunities that we are going to be involved in are found mostly in New York."

Bill Savino, a business lawyer with Damon & Morey LLP, expects an influx of public-works projects.

"Several attorneys here represent numerous contractors who have withstood a gradual slowing in the private sector that has extended to the public sector," he says.

Savino expects those contractors to be among the first to benefit as new projects, including the repair and painting of bridges as well as road-work projects, are unveiled. As for his firm seeing a rise in business, Savino calls any growth "incremental."

"We have a better chance of riding T.O. to the Super Bowl this year," he says, referring to the Buffalo Bills' recent signing of Terrell Owens, "than we do of seeing a sharp upswing in 2009 from the stimulus."