Get to Know... Marc J. Krawiec
September 1, 2026
You might call Marc Krawiec a force of nature. He loves a challenge, be it intellectual or physical. His work as a corporate attorney is complex and varied. Marc provides strategic legal advice to Business clients on transactions spanning mergers, acquisitions, dispositions, equity and debt Financing, joint ventures and other initiatives. He also advises businesses on matters related to Corporate Governance, state and federal licensing, Regulatory Compliance, data Security and arrangements with customers and suppliers.
While Marc’s clientele is diverse, he has a stronger focus on highly regulated industries such as health insurance and financial services companies than a typical Business lawyer, having worked in both of these industries earlier in his career.
“Technology plays a significant role in these regulated industries,” Marc explains. “Regulators are very aware of and want to make sure that the company they regulate is likewise wary of systemic risks that may not be obvious at the outset but could scale and create significant problems when not governed properly. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a prime example, and in regulated industries AI is mostly governed at the state level. While state regulations may be similar, they are not the same across states. While AI use is rapidly emerging to gain competitive advantage and reduce costs, the regulators won’t tolerate these industries doing things that risk consumers or finances. For one example, if an insurance company cannot pay out claims, the state gets stuck holding the bag. The same sentiment holds when using AI applications in underwriting decisions. If not configured correctly, the insurance company could be denying all the claims from a zip code, for example with a flawed risk model and must then take responsibility for tools that don’t operate correctly. My work in the AI field helps companies regulated by the state and federal government deploy these tools effectively while they are managing and adapting to the potential risks they may pose."
Marc’s acquisition work goes well beyond the closing table, as “the deep and massive work of integrating the system of the acquired company begins with merging disparate data, benefits, technology, etc. This can go on for years. Banking is particularly interesting in the enormity of technology that goes into a banking app. The app integrates many separate systems (Zelle, Venmo, Apple Pay) into one that must reflect all activity with the vendors that provide these different services. Technology and the operations side of a large Business is more than the terms of each individual contract. The larger challenge is about how you integrate these massive tech tools, manage risk and problems and make sure that separate systems can talk to each other.”
Every weekend, Marc does an about face from his work life, exchanging a mountain of paperwork and his Buffalo apartment for the mountains of Cattaraugus County and his “cabin in the woods.” Cattaraugus County is home to the 65,000-acre Allegheny State Park and the winter resort town of Ellicottville, known as the “Aspen of the East.” During the winter months, Marc can often be found, that is if you have the skills to accompany him, scaling the ski slopes. Marc doesn’t go to the area’s big ski resorts, preferring the older trails of former resorts that have closed. There’s no lift to get him where he wants to go. His favorite way to hit the slopes is ski touring, which is not to be confused with cross country skiing. To ski tour, Marc affixes “skins” to his downhill skis, which gives him traction to make his way uphill under his own power. If that doesn’t give you pause...here’s Marc to share his know-how.
“When Covid hit, I was working at a health insurance company. People saw it coming, and we shut down our offices early to go remote. I left the city for my ski house and ended up spending most of 2020 and 2021 there. That first month, I had visions of skiing with the resort all to myself. The opposite happened. The lift lines were packed with athletes of all stripes looking for a workout outside of a gym. That’s when I bought the touring equipment. I was one of the test cases, and the sport has since grown exponentially. I’d go out with a small group who quickly became friends. You get to know them pretty well as you’re spending 40 minutes trucking up a hill together.
“Skins on skis goes back centuries. Instead of today’s synthetics, skiers employed actual animal skins, which didn’t slip on the snow and ice. At the top of the hill you remove the skin and you’re off. I even skied in five degrees below zero weather. As long as you keep moving, you stay warm. The touring gear gets you to anyplace you want to go.”
Marc’s general rule of caution is to "come down the way you came up.”
Another way Marc found a way to challenge himself by exploring unfamiliar territory was to earn his Bachelor of Arts degree in English. “From early on in my schooling, I was very math and science oriented. As I was leaning towards a law career, I knew I would encounter a lifetime of reading, writing, and comprehension. To sharpen these skills, I forced myself to get comfortable with what caused me discomfort. I believe that if you’re immersed in the regulatory world, you don’t want uncertainty of what you can or cannot do within a regulation. When you get into complex regulatory language, you need to understand the statutory, logic, predictability and precision of the language to do the best work for your client. I knew that the study of language would prepare me to do this well.
“Going from inhouse to private practice, I know what it’s like to be the client. Whenever I am giving advice, the focus is always first on running the Business efficiently and nimbly in order to make changes quickly. I enjoy the variety of clients I work with in private practice, and the breadth of experience found in that diversity. There is always a new challenge to be had.”
