Ken Manning, Super Lawyer at Phillips Lytle for Decades

By Tony Farina

When you first meet Kenneth A. Manning, it might not occur to you that the kind, soft-spoken gentleman you are meeting is really a wolf in sheep’s clothing when it comes to matters of the law.

You might never guess at first blush that Ken Manning, a longtime partner in one of Buffalo’s very best full-service law firms, Phillips Lytle, has been recognized for more than four decades as an elite lawyer locally, statewide and nationally and has been honored time and again for his outstanding work. He has most recently been top ranked by Chambers and Partners to its highest tier of General Commercial Litigators in its USA Guide from 2019 to 2025.

Joel Daniels, one of the Buffalo area’s top criminal defense lawyers for many, many years, when asked to comment on Ken Manning’s legal career, perhaps said it best, in simple English we can all understand:

“It is a lawyer’s job to solve problems, and Ken Manning goes to the head of the line.”

Defense Attorney Joe Daniels

Daniels, elegant and stylish with a super lawyer resume of his own, captured it all in that brief comment. Manning gets it done and has for Phillips Lytle since 1979 when he joined the firm after earning his law degree at UB Law School and clerking for Appellate Justice Reid Moule for two years, giving him the opportunity to see the writings of the major law firms, including Phillips Lytle, and that convinced him that’s where he wanted to work. He became a partner a few years later and remained with the firm through July of this year. He will soon transition to JAMS, where he will be based in their New York Resolution Center. JAMS is a leading provider of alternate dispute resolution (ADR) services including mediation and arbitration.

The new job looks like a perfect fit for Ken Manning given his many years of experience in resolving disputes in the courtroom or in the law office. He’s been there and done that, thank you. And his work at Phillips Lytle, that began when he won a very large tax refund real estate class action lawsuit against the City of Buffalo, gave his law firm reason financially to appreciate their new addition. And it was just the beginning. He went on to earn many more victories for his clients and law firm in a distinguished and much honored career.

But Manning first trained to be an engineer and almost incredibly has two engineering degrees, earned at UB before going to law school, a path for which he was relatively unprepared with no writing courses. But that was another challenge for the wolf of a lawyer and he overcame that as he has so much in his career.

The soon-to-be super lawyer had opportunities in engineering but instead elected to practice law. His mother had wanted him to be an engineer but while he could have gone that route, he decided that he could help people more by being a lawyer. And he concedes in his underwhelming way that he has been able to do that. And he’s still doing it, often freely giving his advice in difficult matters when he is called upon by other lawyers to help. But engineering has been a valuable asset in his legal career.

“My engineering education in some aspects made my job as a lawyer a lot easier,” he says of his career decision. “For example, doing serious product liability cases, no one had to train me in the basics of what an engineer does. No one had to train me in how engineering works. You come in with a knowledge base where you can get to the end game a lot faster and it was a huge help.”

Manning added that “I wouldn’t say it was a great help to me in an accounting case, but the training you get, the way you think through problems as an engineer certainly helps you on cross-examination.” I guess he made the right decision given his enormous impact and success in the legal world.

Roswell Parker Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, NY

When he received a distinguished alumni award from UB in 2023, the pamphlet capsule cited his more than 40 years of litigation experience, including “bet-the-company and commercial litigation, dissolution proceedings, employment termination disputes and wrongful death claims.”

The Alumni Award capsule also noted his volunteer work with several Western New York nonprofit organizations, including Roswell Park Comprehensive Care Center where he served on the board for 14 years, and Suneel’s Light Foundation, named for his stepson from his second marriage, Suneel Ram, who has lived with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy for his entire life.

Manning also serves on the Buffalo and Fort Erie Peace Bridge Authority at the pleasure of the governor. Manning was first appointed to the Peace Bridge Authority by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2016 and most recently serves under Gov. Kathy Hochul. Manning has alternatively served as chairman and vice chairman of the Authority.

The honors are almost never ending and we certainly can’t list them all but must mention he has been recognized by the Best Lawyers of America which named him Municipal Lawyer of the Year in 2025 and Lawyer of the Year for Bet-the-Company Litigation for 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, and 2023.

Ken and his first wife, Diane, have two children, Mike and Kathryn, and three grandchildren.

In responding to a question about his legal career which has earned him so many accolades and honors, Manning said in his understated way, “I like winning. It brings some satisfaction. I’m a competitive person. If I couldn’t do it on the sports field, I could do it in the courtroom. I enjoyed the competition but more than that solving problems is something I could do as an engineer or a lawyer. As a lawyer, there are many more opportunities to solve a problem than you have as an engineer.” And judging by his resume, he solved a few problems in his day and is continuing to do it.

One case he certainly enjoyed winning was a recent one in which he represented the Bronx Zoo against a group known as the Nonhuman Rights Project who wanted to move a long-residing Asian elephant named Happy from her Bronx Zoo residence to an elephant sanctuary. Manning said the Bronx Zoo are “wonderful people and part of the Wildlife Conservation Society which I admire.” The care of the elephant was never in doubt. The question at hand was who should take care of the elephant: the people who know her and have cared for her for decades or a group trying to change the law? Our Court of Appeals ultimately decided that Happy should stay where she is.

The Court of Appeals ruled that Happy is not a legal person and therefore cannot be released through a habeas corpus proceeding. The court ruled a writ of haneas corpus is intended to protect people and does not extend to nonhuman animals, even those with high cognitive abilities. It was a big win for Ken Manning. Even now, three years after the ruling, the group continues to advocate that Happy be taken away from the home she has known for many decades.

The super lawyer from Buffalo has never been any kind of publicity hound, and goes about his business solving problems and winning cases most of the time not in the public eye. But that’s okay with him. It is about winning the cases for clients and not about seeking publicity. Understated, and even a bit humble, Ken is a terrific lawyer in the courtroom and in the law office.

JAMS will benefit by having one of the best lawyers in the state to help them focus on both business and legal aspects of dispute resolution. They are getting one of the best.