Areas of Practice include:

Appellate
Bankruptcy & Creditors Rights
e-Business
Environmental
Insurance
Intellectual Property & Technology
Litigation
Personal Injury
Professional Liability

Nancy L. Pontius joined Mackenzie Hughes in 1981 and is now a partner in the firm's Litigation Department. She provides expertise to clients in the areas of commercial litigation, appellate and insurance law.

Nancy received a Bachelor of Arts degree from William Smith College in 1971. She then went to Syracuse University College of Law, where she graduated cum laude with a Juris Doctorate in 1976. While a student at SU, Nancy was a member of the Justinian Honor Society. She was admitted to the New York Bar in 1977, the U.S. District Court and Northern District of New York in 1980 and the U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit in 1983.

Professionally, she is a member of the American, local Federal, New York State, Onondaga County and the Central New York Women's Bar Associations. Currently Nancy is on the Board of Directors of the Onondaga County Bar Association and chair of the Insurance Committee. Over the years she has been active in community/civic organizations as well. She was a member of the Board of Directors of Legal Service of Central New York from 1989 to 1994 - and was the Board Chair from 1993 to 1994. She was also involved in the Women's Bar Association Domestic Violence program, where she used her expertise and knowledge to represent indigent victims of domestic violence in Family Court proceedings. In the mid-1990s, she was a member of the Samaritan Center Board. She was a Campfire Board Member in the early 1980s and a Society for New Music Board Member in the 1970s. She also provided Legal Counsel to the Hon. Rosemary Pooler's U.S. congressional campaign in the 1980s.

In the late 1980s, Nancy was invited to serve as a member of the New York State Office of Court Administration Advisory Committee on Civil Practice, which she served from 1988 to 1995. This prestigious committee meets on a monthly basis in New York City to draft proposed legislation relating to civil practice and to review pending bills relating to civil practice. In the early 1990s, Nancy was appointed by the Presiding Judge of the Appellate Division Fourth Department to serve on the Committee for certification of Judicial Hearing Officers for the courts within the Appellate Division Fourth Department, which she served on for approximately ten years - until the end of 2000.

Prior to working at Mackenzie Hughes, Nancy spent time as a Confidential Law Secretary to State Supreme Court Justice the Hon. Donald H. Mead. She was responsible for performing legal research concerning matters before the court, drafting bench memoranda and decisions, handling communications with counsel appearing before the Court on various matters and virtually anything that provided a challenge. She also worked as a Law Clerk to United States District Court Judge the Hon. Neal P. McCurn performing similar duties.