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Michael F. Buckley

Michael F. BuckleyMichael Buckley is a partner at Boylan Code LLP in Rochester, where his practice concentrates on business succession, complex estate planning, and estate and trust administration. Now in his 46th year of practice, he has lectured extensively on estate and tax planning for groups such as the National Business Institute and the New York State Bar Association.

Buckley received his bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College in 1965 and went on to earn his juris doctor degree from Cornell University in 1968. That same year, he joined Harter Secrest and Emery LLP in Rochester as an associate and became a partner six years later. During his 44-year career at Harter Secrest, Buckley served as co-editor of Administration of New York Estates (1990) and as a contributing author to Estate Planning and Probate in New York (1995). Two years ago, he became a partner at Boylan Code, where he is a member of the firm’s Trusts and Estates Group. 

A long-time friend and supporter of the University of Rochester Medical Center, Buckley has served on the Wilmot Cancer Center board for nine years. A 30-year member and former board chair at Highland Hospital, he is past chair of the Highland Hospital Foundation and a co-chair of the Hospital’s capital campaign committee. He is currently chair of Strong Partners Health System Inc., a board member of URMC, and chair of URMC’s development committee. Buckley has served for more than seven years as board member and legal counsel to the James P. Wilmot Foundation, and has steadfastly supported the Wilmot Cancer Center’s comprehensive campaign as well as its clinical cancer survivorship fund. A member of the George Eastman Circle, the University’s leadership annual giving society, he has generously supported annual funds at Highland Hospital and URMC.

Active in civic and professional organizations nationally and in his community, Buckley is a fellow of the American College of Trusts and Estates Counsel. He has served as a board member and as legal counsel to the Rochester Area Community Foundation. A member of the Monroe County Bar Association and chair of the Trusts & Estates Committee and Banking Committee, he belongs to both the Florida and the New York State bars. Past president of the board at Daystar for Medically Fragile Infants Inc., he previously served on the boards at Highland Community Development Corporation and at YMCA of Greater Rochester.

Honored with Highland Hospital Foundation’s Heritage Award in 1996, Buckley was named Rochester Lawyer of the Year for 2014 for Trusts & Estates and selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® in the field of trusts and estates. He is currently listed in Super Lawyers as well as in the online publications of “Who’s Who in America” and “Who’s Who in the World.”

Buckley lives in Penfield and is the father of two grown children, Sean and Kathleen, and has six grandchildren.