About Jean Marie
Jean Marie Westlake earned her law degree from Syracuse University College of Law in 2001 after graduating from Le Moyne College with a Bachelor of Science in 1994. She moved into practice soon after law school and built a career grounded in courtroom work and client representation. Her early training combined academic legal study with the practical demands of litigation, and it set the stage for steady professional advancement.
She took an early post at Costello, Cooney and Fearon, PLLC in 2002, where she worked as a lawyer handling civil matters. In 2009 she became a partner at DeFrancisco & Falgiatano, LLP, a firm known for personal injury practice. Her résumé lists admissions to New York courts, the U.S. District Courts for the Western and Northern Districts of New York, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, and U.S. Federal Courts. Those admissions allow her to carry cases through multiple levels of the federal and state systems.
Her practice has centered on personal injury litigation. She represents individuals in claims that proceed through negotiations, pretrial motion work, and courtroom hearings. That courtroom orientation means substantial time spent preparing evidence, taking and defending depositions, and arguing motions. Colleagues describe her approach as methodical; she often structures case files to move efficiently from investigation to filing and through discovery. She has experience coordinating with medical experts and opposing counsel in complex injury matters, and she has managed cases at both the trial and appellate stages when appeals were necessary.
Over the years Westlake has balanced casework with the administrative responsibilities that come with partnership at a law firm. She took on duties typical of firm leadership, including client development and supervising younger lawyers. Today her record reflects steady involvement in state and federal litigation on behalf of injured clients. She concentrates her practice on personal injury representation in state and federal courts.
