Mark W. Hamberger, Special Counsel

Contact Info

Phone number: (716) 854-1565 
Email: mhamberger@hwcomp.com

Admitted to Practice

• New York, 1973
• U.S. District Court Western District of New York, 1977

Education

• Georgetown University Law Center
  • J.D., 1972
     
• Le Moyne College
  • B.A., 1969

Mr. Hamberger has concentrated his practice on workers’ compensation defense since 1976.  He is a member of the American Bar Association, Labor and Employment Law and Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Sections; the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) Torts, Insurance, and Compensation Law Section, Workers' Compensation Law Division and the Bar Association of Erie County.  Mr. Hamberger is a professional member of the National Council of Self-Insurers and the New York Self-Insurers Association.  

He served, on behalf of business and industry, as advisory counsel to the New York State Senate and Assembly Labor Committees during joint hearings investigating the adjudicatory processes of the Workers’ Compensation Board.  He was Chair of the NYSBA Special Committee on the Workers’ Compensation Board and received the Board Chairman’s Award for Excellence.  Mr. Hamberger served on the Workers' Compensation Board’s Wi-Fi Advisory Committee, and the Workers' Compensation Board Administrative Practices and Procedures Advisory Committee for the Buffalo District.  In 2010 he was appointed by the Chair of the Workers Compensation Board to serve on the Board’s Attorney Fee Advisory Committee.  Mr. Hamberger has served from 2009 to present on the NYSBA Sub‑Committee evaluating administrative reforms initiated since the 2007 Omnibus Reform Legislation.  He appeared before the NYS Senate Labor Committee in February 2010 as the representative of the President of the NYSBA regarding statutory, regulatory and due process issues.  He is a past director of both the Erie County Bar Foundation and the Bar Association of Erie County.   He is a Board member of the American Society of Workers’ Comp Professionals (AMCOMP).  

Mr. Hamberger is a contributing author on the subject of employers' rights in a number of New York State Bar Association publications, the most recent, Construction Work Site and Accident Litigation and A Practitioner's Guide to Workers' Compensation Law in New York.  He has been listed in Super Lawyers for many years and been listed for more than twenty-five years in The Best Lawyers in America in the field of Workers' Compensation Law.  He is AV rated by Martindale-Hubbell.  In March 2009, Mr. Hamberger was inducted as a Fellow in The College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers.  In June of 2012, he received the Award of Merit from the Bar Association of Erie County in recognition of his work for the betterment of the workers' compensation system.

Mr. Hamberger began his legal career in Lake Placid, NY in a two person general law practice and served as an Assistant District Attorney in Essex County.  Upon returning to his native Buffalo in 1976, Mark served as Town Justice for the Town of Evans for eight years.  Mark remains a member of the New York State Magistrates Association and enjoys officiating at marriage ceremonies for friends, family and clients. A lifelong boater, Mark is proud to hold a Captain’s License through the U.S. Coast Guard and the National Maritime Center.