People news: McChesney joins Tully Rinckey as new director of PR

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Tully Rinckey PLLC, an Albany–based law firm that also operates a Syracuse office, has hired Charles J. McChesney as its director of public relations.

His hiring comes as Tully Rinckey prepares for continued expansion across upstate New York and beyond, according to a news release.

In his new role, McChesney, who is based in the firm’s Syracuse office, will develop and execute public-relations initiatives that connect media outlets with attorneys who can clearly explain complex legal matters, the release stated.

In addition to Albany and Syracuse, Tully Rinckey also has locations in Buffalo; Rochester; Washington, D.C.;  Arlington, Va.; and in September, opened an office in San Diego, Calif.

Prior to joining Tully Rinckey, McChesney most recently was a proposal and public-relations manager at Hiscock & Barclay, LLP in Syracuse.

McChesney’s previous roles before that include working as a reporter with The Post-Standard and Syracuse.com, editor-in-chief of TheCentral New York Business Journal, and in newsroom leadership and reporting positions at The News-Chronicle in Thousand Oaks, Calif., Investor’s Daily in Santa Monica, Calif., The Recorder in Greenfield, Mass., and Foster’s Daily Democrat in Dover, N.H.

McChesney is a graduate of Colgate University and the Syracuse Entrepreneurship Bootcamp at Syracuse University’s Whitman School of Management.

Tully Rinckey’s practice areas include family and matrimonial law, criminal defense, labor and employment law, personal injury, estate planning, Social Security law, bankruptcy, military law, and appellate law.