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KaylaArias

She | Her | Hers

Counsel

"I am passionate about helping clients through the challenging litigation process and ensuring that their goals are met."

Overview

Biography

Kayla concentrates her practice on commercial litigation, regularly advising and representing both individual and corporate entities in state and federal court. She has experience defending and prosecuting actions for matters ranging from breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty to fraud and tortious interference. Kayla also has experience handling trademark and copyright disputes venued in federal courts in various jurisdictions as well as defending malicious prosecution and strict liability suits. 

Kayla advises parties to litigation, including motion practice and discovery, as well as advising parties on responding to non-party subpoenas, demand letters, and administrative investigations. She also has significant experience taking and opposing appeals and engaging in various motion practice in appellate courts.

In addition to her own practice, Kayla serves on the Syracuse office Opportunity, Inclusion & Belonging Leadership Team.

Bar Associations

  • Northern District of New York Federal Court Bar Association

Selected Memberships & Affiliations

  • Barclay Damon’s Women’s Forum
  • Onondaga County Diversity & Inclusion Committee, Co-Chair

Languages

  • Spanish
Experience

Representative Experience

  • Assisted a partner in obtaining a summary judgment dismissal of a complaint against a county and district attorneys that sought $9 million in damages for malicious prosecution.
  • Successfully defended an adversaries' appeal of a lower court's denial of an Article 78 petition that sought to reverse the Public Service Commission's denial of retroactive reimbursements to a group of residential developers for certain trenching work used to install utility service. The Appellate Division's decision to affirm the lower court order was particularly important to the utility client because an adverse decision would have potentially caused other developers to also seek retroactive reimbursements, opening the client up to additional claims and damages.
  • Successfully obtained dismissal on summary judgment of a claim for a $2 million "finder's fee" arising from the sale of a pharmacy business. 

Prior Experience

  • Burton Blatt Institute, Research Assistant
  • Hiscock & Barclay, LLP, Summer Associate
  • The Wolford Law Firm, LLP, Summer Associate
  • Law Offices of Thomas M. Robertson, Esq., Legal Secretary

Selected Honors

  • Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America®: Commercial Litigation, 2024–2025
  • Selected to Super Lawyers Upstate New York Rising Stars: Business Litigation, 2021–2024
  • Barclay Damon LLP, Pro Bono Award, 2018
  • Northern District of New York Federal Court Bar Association, Pro Bono Service Award, 2017
  • New York State Bar Association, Empire State Counsel, 2016
Knowledge

Selected Speaking Engagements

  • New York State Bar Association, “Streamlining Litigations: Views From the Bench in Upstate New York” CLE, Moderator
  • New York State Bar Association, “Disrupting Unconscious Bias in the Legal Profession” CLE

Selected Alerts & Blog Posts

Featured Media

Alerts

EPA Issues Memorandum Reminding States and Tribes of Their Limited Authority Under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act

Alerts

Non-Judicial Collateral Remedies, Part 2 – Sale of Collateral

Alerts

NYS Court of Appeals Applies the Assumption of Risk Doctrine to One Golf Course Injury but Not Another

Alerts

Bankruptcy Avoidance Actions, Part 2 – Fraudulent Transfers

Alerts

NYS Court of Appeals: CVA Plaintiff Must Prove Notice of Abuse Applying Then-Prevailing Standards in Decades-Old Sexual Abuse Case

Alerts

Website Accessibility Lawsuits: Several "Tester" Plaintiffs—Darnell Williams, Tanisia Bowman, Dominique Tompkins, Kimberly Miller, and Judith Adela Fernandez Martinez—Targeting Businesses in Recent Flurry of Lawsuits