BUFFALO, N.Y. — It’s a jingle that will outlive the business:
“Eight-eight-eight… eight-eight… eight-eight.”
Ross Cellino and Stephen Barnes are apparently nearing the end of two-year legal battle to dissolve the Cellino and Barnes law firm. It is arguably the best known civil litigation firm in Buffalo, with offices and attorneys across New York State.
The Buffalo News first reported the two sides said the legal break-up would happen soon. In the future, court documents indicate there will be two new firms named The Barnes Firm and Cellino Law.
And although the process seems to be coming to a close, hostilities between the two legal titans has flared up again this month, according to court documents.
Barnes asked for and got a temporary restraining order against Cellino for an alleged breach of the Cellino & Barnes computer system.
The accusation centers around whether David Blaszak, identified as the IT director for Cellino’s new lawfirm, installed an undisclosed “backdoor” to the lawfirm’s system to extract information contrary to a court order.
Today, a pre-trial conference was scheduled between the Cellino and Barnes legal teams.
