A cum laude graduate of the State University of New York at Buffalo Law School, Donald Chiari has over 35 years of litigation experience. The focus of his practice is dedicated to representing those who have sustained catastrophic and life-changing injuries. Mr. Chiari currently handles automobile accidents, construction accidents, nursing home negligence and abuse, complex premises liability, product liability, and medical malpractice cases. He has tried numerous cases to verdict throughout Western New York, resulting in multi-million-dollar awards and some of the highest verdicts and recoveries in our community. He has been recognized for obtaining the two largest personal injury verdicts in Niagara County history and has obtained one of the largest nursing home verdicts in the State of New York.
Mr. Chiari is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers (ACTL). Membership in the organization is by invitation only and is limited to one percent of the lawyers in each state. He also holds the elevated rank of Advocate with the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), an organization that recognizes the skill, integrity, and experience in the special art of trial advocacy.
Mr. Chiari has received an AV® Peer Review Rating Martindale-Hubbell, the preeminent level of professional excellence. The AV® rating is the highest possible ranking in legal ability and ethics. He was further selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America from 2012 to the present in the field of personal injury litigation and was selected as Lawyer of the Year in 2020 and 2023 in medical malpractice law – plaintiffs.
Other organizations have selected him for membership due to his skill in litigation, such as Super Lawyers – Personal Injury, Litigation Counsel of America, and Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum.
Mr. Chiari is a member of the following professional associations: American Association for Justice, New York State Trial Lawyers’ Association, Western New York Trial Lawyers’ Association, and Bar Association of Erie County.
He was also recruited to serve on the National Advisory Board for the University of Buffalo Law School’s Advocacy Institute, which was designed to develop litigation skills of law students to successfully advocate on behalf of future clients.