Esther helps lenders, financial institutions, businesses and other creditors move decisively when real estate and debt matters become distressed. Clients turn to her for practical, business-minded guidance designed to protect collateral, recover assets and preserve leverage. She takes time at the outset to understand each client’s priorities, then crafts strategies that align legal action with the client’s broader business goals.
With experience spanning complex commercial foreclosures, receiverships, residential foreclosures, workouts and consumer and non-consumer collections, Esther guides clients through every stage of enforcement, resolution and recovery. She helps clients cut through dense statutes and procedural hurdles so they can make informed decisions and pursue efficient, results-oriented outcomes.
Esther regularly negotiates workouts, payment arrangements, loan modifications, forbearance agreements, deeds in lieu of foreclosure, court-appointed receiverships, foreclosure proceedings and restructuring solutions — always with a focus on advancing the client’s position and achieving a practical path to recovery.
Prior to joining Harris Beach Murtha, Esther served several clerkships, including at a firm specializing in family law; at a criminal law firm; with the in-house legal department of a New York integrated energy company; and for the Honorable Thérèse Wiley Dancks, magistrate judge for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York.
A former lacrosse player for Division III Oswego State, Esther previously won the SUNY Chancellor’s Scholar-Athlete Award by State University of New York and was named Oswego State’s Outstanding Senior Female Athlete.”