Inside the Buffalo office of Endell J. Osuna, the wall is adorned with the colorful artwork of his two young children. Birthday cards, Father’s Day cards, a drawing of man in a suit and photos of his son and daughter hang behind his desk. When asked about the décor, Endell grins, and as he begins to talk about his family, he notes through a wide smile just how important the “work-life balance” is to him which Goldberg Segalla provides.

So perhaps then it’s not entirely surprising that when asked what inspired him to pursue a career in law, his answer goes back to family and his own upbringing.

The oldest of two children raised by a Puerto Rican-born single mother who spoke limited English, Endell spent a fair share of his formative years helping his family navigate life in Rochester. He served as his mother’s translator, filled out her paperwork for housing, food and other benefits, and helped his family overcome the challenges with which they were often confronted being from an underprivileged community.

“Since a young age, I have always been there to help. And it’s something I’ve always liked doing and always enjoyed doing,” he said. “Being an attorney was a way to foster that. Being an attorney means being an advocate — being someone that’s always going to be there to help when called upon. I enjoy being a lawyer. It’s something I’ve always wanted to be.”

Now seven years into his career, Endell’s passion for helping others has not gone without notice. An attorney in Goldberg Segalla’s Civil Litigation and Trial practice group, he was recognized last month by Super Lawyers as a ‘Rising Star’ in Upstate New York’s legal community.

Much of Endell’s work centers around personal-injury defense, as well as matters of premises liability and labor law.

“I’ve been in this area since I’ve started practicing and I really enjoy it,” Endell said. “A lot of my time is spent being adversarial, and sometimes you have to have some thick skin to survive in the litigation field. But it’s not all about being adverse to the other party. Buffalo’s a great community, and here we try to diminish that as much as possible. We’re not as adverse as some other venues.”

Though Endell acknowledged he likes to argue, he said there’s far more that goes into being a good litigator.

“I think you have to be a ‘people person.’ When you’re at trial, you’re not trying to convince other attorneys your position is right or wrong. You’re convincing your neighbor,” i.e. the people on the jury, he said. “If I’m deposing someone, I want them to see I’m just a normal guy. I’m not just a guy in a suit that’s trying to come after you. You have to be somewhat of a people person so that people confide in you and are willing to tell you their issues. A sense of humor helps too. You can’t always be so strict and stern. There has to be some sort of humor to brighten the day a little bit. Even in court, you may be having a stern conversation with the judge and a little bit of humor there can soften things a little bit and get things back on track.”

Endell’s ability to connect with people is integral to his approach in building trust with his clients.

“I work to build a rapport with my clients early on,” he said. “It’s important to make sure clients know you’re available when they need you. Being friendly, building a good rapport — I think these are things I do well.”

Perhaps not surprisingly for an attorney who serves as manager of the firm’s softball team, Endell also attributes his success to the spirit of “teamwork” which is prevalent throughout Goldberg Segalla.

Endell brought his sense of community and humor to his role as coach of the Team GS Buffalo softball team, writing up the best post-game summaries anyone has ever read and bringing us to a coveted spot in the final game of the Lawyers’ Softball League playoffs. Next year Endell!

“I think it definitely takes a village, especially in the legal field,” Endell said. “You can’t do it all. You have to rely on your staff, your assistants, and any helping hand out there. When you’re brainstorming ideas, that involves teamwork. When you’re developing strategy, you need to work with other attorneys and bounce ideas off one another. A lot of the attorneys here have an open-door policy. I can pop right over to one of our attorneys and say, ‘Hey, what do you think?’ And they’re willing to explain the issue and their position. We’re collaborative here, and I think that’s how we do best for our clients. Yeah, the firm is awesome.”

As a Latino, Endell noted he is proud to be working at a law firm committed to diversity, equity and inclusion. He appreciates that Goldberg Segalla’s leadership and trailblazing work in this area has been recognized regionally and nationally.

“It’s great to know this firm is a step ahead in terms of acknowledging that diversity is something that needs to be addressed,” Endell said. “Bringing different points of view, different ideas and different cultural perspectives to the field of law is important. Bringing in more of a diverse group of attorneys or staff just makes a place more welcoming. There’s still not many Latinos in the field, yet Spanish is our second most spoken language. Having more people that can speak that language in the profession is obviously a good thing. And personally, not just being Hispanic, but also as someone who came from an underprivileged community where there were not many resources, I feel like I can connect with other people” who come from similar backgrounds and circumstances.

And connecting with people, Endell said, is what drives his passion for his work.

“Sometimes you’ll get emails from clients thanking you for your service or thanking you for getting something done on short notice. Days where you’ve made the client happy, that’s a good day. Sometimes it’s as simple as that,” he said. “The more you can communicate with the client and the more you can keep them up to date — making sure the client’s happy with how you’re moving things forward — I feel like that’s the best way to get ahead in our profession.”