Kathleen M. Sweet

Practice Area

Ms. Sweet’s practice includes the defense of complex medical malpractice actions, legal malpractice actions as well as claims against long-term care facilities.  She also represents physicians and other health care professionals subject to discipline at the institutional level and with respect to state agency investigations and actions.  A former confidential law clerk to New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division, Fourth Judicial Department, Ms. Sweet also handles appeals in her area of practice.

Education/Experience

Ms. Sweet is a graduate of Boston College, where she was honored as the Big East Conference Scholar Athlete of the Year and inducted to the Varsity Club’s Hall of Fame.  She graduated from the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law where she was president of the Moot Court Board.

Ms. Sweet is admitted to practice in the State of New York and in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  She is also admitted in the United States District Court for the Western District of New York and the United States Bankruptcy Court.  She is a certified mediator for the United States District Court for the Western District of New York.

Ms. Sweet is a member of the American Bar Association where she served in the House of Delegates from 2017-2022.  She is also a member of the New York State Bar Association where she has served on numerous committees and task forces, and is currently the Vice President for the Eighth Judicial District.  Ms. Sweet served as President of the Bar Association of Erie County from 2012 to 2013.  The Defense Trial Lawyers of Western New York recognized her as its Lawyer of the Year in 2015.  The Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York honored Ms. Sweet in 2004 with the M. Dolores Denman Lady Justice Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Ms. Sweet is also a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and of the Litigation Counsel of America. She has been honored by Best Lawyers in America as Buffalo, New York’s Lawyer of the Year in the field of medical malpractice defense in 2012, 2018, 2020, 2021, and 2022.  She has also been voted by her peers as among SuperLawyers™ Top Ten attorneys in Upstate New York since 2020.

She is a member of the New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division Committee on Character and Fitness and was the Founding Chair of the Upstate Tri-County Bar Associations’ Commission on Judicial Appointments.

Martindale-Hubbell Rating

Ms. Sweet is rated AV Preeminent by Martindale Hubbell.