Admitted to practice:
Parker R. MacKay is a criminal defense and litigation attorney in Buffalo, NY with over a decade of trial experience in state and federal courts. Mr. MacKay graduated magna cum laude early from the University of Buffalo Law School. While in law school, Mr. MacKay interned with the Hon. Timothy J. Drury of the New York State Supreme Court and the San Diego County Public Defender’s Office. Following law school, he served as a federal judicial law clerk in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado before returning to Western New York to open his own practice.
As a litigator, Mr. MacKay has represented clients in civil, criminal and enforcement actions in state and federal trial and appellate courts in New York State and elsewhere, including representing an individual accused by the Federal Trade Commission of a nationwide fraud scheme exceeding $10 million in federal court in Chicago, Illinois. An experienced trial lawyer, he has tried criminal cases to jury verdict involving first- and second-degree murder, federal drug trafficking charges, bribery and public corruption, gun possession, and assault charges, resulting in acquittals and hung juries in months’ long high-profile federal criminal trials and state murder cases, among other results. He has also tried civil jury and non-jury trials involving commercial litigation claims (defined by statute as $100,000+ business-related claims) and six-figure personal injury claims. On appeal, Mr. MacKay has secured victories in state and federal appellate courts against the Solicitor General and top tier law firms that have redefined federal educational discrimination law and halted construction plans on environmental grounds for new development of major projects by one of the world’s largest retailers.
A longtime member of the Assigned Counsel Program of Erie County and the federal Criminal Justice Act Panel, Mr. MacKay is frequently appointed directly by judges to handle difficult or complex criminal matters, including cases that have been returned from appellate courts with specific directions to the lower courts, cases involving difficult-to-handle defendants who have been unable to work with prior counsel, high-profile cases, cases needing experienced last-minute trial counsel, and cases where an attorney is appointed to argue the effectiveness of another attorney’s performance. From that experience, Mr. MacKay has been called upon to counsel and represent other lawyers, prosecutors, judges and public officials in connection with court proceedings and matters involving the Attorney Grievance and Judicial Conduct Committees. Since 2018, Mr. MacKay has also served as the Acting Justice for the Village of Kenmore, New York, presiding over thousands of criminal and vehicle/traffic matters.
Outside the practice of law, Parker maintains a rich and diverse life focused on exploration and travel. An avid hiker, he has summitted a number of Colorado’s 14,000 ft. peaks and climbed in the Tian Shan range of Kazakhstan; an avid motorcycle rider, he has overlanded by both motorcycle and 4WD in rural Thailand, Mexico, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and, more recently, completed an extended solo ride coast-to coast and back across Guatemala.
Prior to becoming a lawyer, Parker spent extended time living and working in Mexico and Central America, including working in the oil fields near Villahermosa, Mexico, in the docks around Puerto Barrios, Guatemala, and working at a scuba diving shop in Utila, Honduras. As a result, he is proficient in Spanish.
Learn more about our criminal defense practice, our work in commercial and civil litigation, or review our representative case results.
Whether you are facing criminal charges, a complex business dispute, or need to protect a hard-won result on appeal, we bring the trial-tested experience your case demands.