BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — A father-daughter duo is taking on Buffalo's toughest legal cases.
Growing up the legal realm was an interest of John Elmore's.
However, he never saw an attorney who looked like him.
"I saw attorney's on television and somehow I fell into it," Buffalo attorney, John Elmore said.
That is, until his early twenties. At the time he was working as a New York State trooper.
"The first African American attorney that I had met was a gentleman by the name of Paul Richardson. He kind of became my mentor and guided me and showed me how to apply to law school, what preparation test to take and eventually got a very nice scholarship to attend Syracuse University College of Law," Elmore said.
Thirty-five years later and the rest is history.
The Syracuse Universe College of Law grad now owns a law firm based in Buffalo, called the Law Offices of John Elmore, focused on helping people who suffer a serious injury or have lost a loved one in an accident.
The law firm is the only multi-generational, African-American-owned law firm that exclusively represents personal injury.
"Our goal is to represent a population that is often times underrepresented, often times does not have quality legal services and may not be familiar with the services so we may not have the responsibility to educate people about the system to treat them in a manner where they have respect and dignity."
The most memorable and biggest case Elmore has worked on in his career is that of a death penalty case, trying to keep someone off of death row.
"It was very rewarding to represent somebody that the government wanted to kill, and to save his life," Elmore said. "Jonathan Parker was an African American male who was convicted of shooting and killing a police officer and injuring another male. The evidence against him was very, very strong and our goal as lawyers was to make sure that he did not receive the death penalty by legal injection. We were successful in getting the jury to believe that was the appropriate sentence."
Elmore takes pride in working in a field that does not feel like work to him.
"I have the opportunity to help people, to get close to people, to challenge the people representing the underdog against large insurance companies," Elmore said.
He does it alongside his daughter, Kristen Elmore-Garcia.
"Having my daughter Kristen on board is a blessing. She's super intelligent and very compassionate and shows a lot of empathy for the clients. Because we are of different generations, she is much better with representing some of the younger people. She is way more advanced than I am when it comes to technology. I am the only one in the office that still uses the yellow pad," Elmore-Garcia said.
Elmore-Garcia joined her dad's law firm in December 2021, after working for Erie County.
"I got a call from my dad one day. He said the law firm is doing very well. We have enough clients that I need you to leave your job and come work with me now. I said that would be a great opportunity," the University of Missouri School of Law graduate explained. "We are the only two attorneys in the firm. We have an amazing staff and they work so hard and we couldn't do what we do without them. Being a two-person team, who do you trust more than the person who raised you to have your back and your best interests at heart."
Elmore-Garcia is on one of Buffalo's toughest cases at the moment representing families who have been affected by the Tops massacre, from May 14.
"Most of our time is certainly not a one person job, I don't think either one of us could handle it on an individual level but we are doing what we can," she said.
Since then, the law firm has moved locations to the corner of Main and Hertel. It was previously in Williamsville.
"We now have a location that allows us to be in touch with the people that we serve," Elmore-Garcia said.
As we honor fathers and father figures, this father-daughter duo has a lot to be thankful for.
"I grew up never knowing an African American attorney, an African American Airline pilot or an African American doctor. When we have a family dinner, my oldest daughter is a surgeon, my son is a commercial airline pilot and my daughter is my law partner. That is probably the thing that I am most proud of in my life," Elmore said.
Elmore-Garcia added, "Father's Day is a day where you get to honor the person who raised my brother, sister and I. This is a single dad. I think I can speak for my brother and my sister and myself that we owe who we are to you. That's what Father's Day mean to me."
