Lori O’Brien, formerly of Massena, was recently named the managing partner of Legal Assistance of Western New York.

O’Brien previously served as supervising attorney for the firm’s general law practice and managing attorney of the LawNY Rochester office.

O’Brien will be in charge of administrative and program activities for the Rochester Office. She will take over full management responsibility for the office Sept. 30, replacing Louis Prieto, who is retiring from LawNY at the end of the year after serving as managing attorney since 2003.

O’Brien graduated from Massena Central High School and is the daughter of Steven and Judy O’Brien, Massena. She is a 2001 graduate of SUNY Potsdam, where she was in the honors program, and a 2006 graduate of Brooklyn Law School, where she was a dean’s merit scholar and recipient of the law school’s Gold Public Service Award.

O’Brien joined LawNY as a staff attorney in 2007 and was promoted to senior attorney in 2008 and supervising attorney in 2011.

She was the recipient of the New York State Bar Association’s 2014 Denison Ray Civil Legal Services Award for establishing a community partnership model to improve access to legal assistance for low-income people in Rochester.

She is a frequent contributor to local, state and national training events on topics such as public benefits advocacy, representing the homeless, rights of people with disabilities and effective strategies for developing community partnerships.

LawNY is a not-for-profit law firm that provides free legal representation in non-criminal matters to low-income people in Monroe County and 13 other Western New York counties.