Kathleen Anne Dipaola

Casey began her legal career as an associate attorney at Whiteman Osterman & Hanna LLP, Albany's largest law firm, where she practiced primarily in the areas of Labor and Employment, Education and Litigation.  In 2012, Casey decided to join her mother, Anne Reynolds Copps, in practice.  In 2014, Anne and Casey became partners and created Copps DiPaola, PLLC, the first mother-daughter law firm in the Capital Region.

Casey graduated summa cum laude and as the salutatorian from Albany Law School in 2009. During law school she was a senior editor of the Albany Law Review, the secretary of the Pro Bono Society, and a constitutional law research assistant.  Casey also completed internships with the Family Violence Litigation Clinic and the Warren County District Attorney's Office, and judicial placements in Albany County Supreme Court, and the Appellate Division, Third Department. Prior to law school, Casey graduated from Shenendehowa High School and from the Rochester Institute of Technology, with highest honors and as a member of the Honors Program. Casey currently lives in Clifton Park with her husband Jeffrey, a high school special education teacher, and their sons Evan and Corey.

Casey understands that many of her clients come to her during difficult and stressful times in their lives.  She strives to educate her clients on the law and their options so they can make educated decisions about the trajectory of their cases.  Casey understands that, while the matter that bring her clients to her are incredibly important to them, the vast majority of her clients have limited funds to spend on legal representation.  With that in mind, Casey openly discusses with her clients the relative costs of various options and helps them to engage in a cost-benefit analysis. 

Casey prides herself on being a creative problem solver and refuses to take a one size fits all approach to her cases.  She spends time with her clients getting to know the facts of their cases intimately so she can help them brainstorm possible solutions to the problem that brought them to her.  Particularly in matters involving families, Casey believes that working together to come up with a solution that addresses the needs and concerns of all involved to the best extent possible is almost always preferable to litigation, which can do irreparable damage to relationships.  That being said, Casey has extensive litigation experience and, in the event that settlement is not an option, she is willing and able to zealously litigate on behalf of her clients.

Casey focuses her practice in all areas of adoption law.  She has experience representing birth and adoptive parents in private adoptions, voluntary agency adoptions, foster care adoptions and step/second parent adoptions.  Casey also has experience representing adoption agencies and handling adoption subsidy fair hearings.  Casey also practices in the related area of assisted reproductive technology law (egg/sperm/embryo donation and surrogacy/gestational carrier agreements) and kinship guardianship (KinGAP).  Casey also practices matrimonial law and handles all types of family court matters and she also acts a neutral mediator in matrimonial/custody matters.  Casey also handles estate planning/trusts, probate/estate administration, guardianship (Article 81, 17 and 17A), residential real estate, not-for-profit/for profit/religious corporation formation and operations, name changes (including transgender name changes), education law, employment law and minor traffic matters.