Our Team
Personal Injury & Medical Malpractice Lawyers
Christina Bruner Sonsire
Christina joined the Ziff Law Firm in March 2008. Specializing in the areas Medical Malpractice and catastrophic Personal Injury, Christina loves being in the courtroom and is eager to continue developing her trial advocacy skills.
Christina graduated from Georgetown University in 1998, earning dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in Classics and International Relations and studying International Economics abroad at the University of Antwerp, Belgium. Christina played on the Georgetown Women’s Soccer Team where she served as the team’s captain during her junior and senior years. A prolific scorer, Christina held Georgetown’s records for the most career goals and assists from 1998 through 2010.
Mike Brown
Mike Brown joined the Ziff Law Firm in September 2016. He is excited to be the newest member of the team of attorneys at Ziff Law, learning every day from what he calls the three best personal injury lawyers in the region.
Mike is a 2012 graduate of the Syracuse University College of Law and was admitted to the bar in New York State in 2013. His first two legal jobs were as an assistant district attorney in the Broome County District Attorney’s Office and as an assistant attorney general with the New York State Attorney General’s Office in Binghamton. Mike has a special interest in medical malpractice cases because he comes from a family of doctors – his father and two brothers are doctors and his wife, Courtney, is a registered nurse.
After a year defending the state against claims in the Attorney General’s Office, he was ready to make the move to Ziff Law.
ZiffLaw Team
Karen Wheadon
Injury and Malpractice Paralegal
Karen Wheadon has been a Paralegal with the firm since 2001.
Born and raised in Horseheads, Karen graduated from Notre Dame High School and earned an associate’s degree in Paralegal Sciences from Corning Community College.
She now lives in Pine City with her family. She and her husband Jeremy, who works at Hilliard Corp, were married in 2001. Karen has two children, Emily and Elise and two stepchildren, Justin and Erica.
Sara Denierio
Receptionist
Sara Denierio enjoys meeting new people every day, which is a good thing given her position as receptionist at the Ziff Law Firm! Sara greets Attorneys, Stenographers, Judges, clients and more – a constant flow of new faces daily.
Sara has been with Ziff Law Firm since 2007. She answers calls from the switchboard, distributes the firm’s mail and handles a variety of important clerical duties, including maintaining our client database.
An Elmira native, Sara graduated from Elmira Free Academy in 2002. Sara has two beautiful little girls, Leigha & Sophie. Sara has strong roots in Elmira- her parents, Jeff and Deanna Denierio, own and operate Denierio’s Auto Detailing in Elmira. Sara has two younger brothers, Jeffrey and Vinnie.
Outside of work Sara enjoys spending lots of time with her family and friends. In her spare time she likes to decorate. Interior design has always been a huge interest of mine.
Sara also says how much she enjoys cleaning and accessorizing her vehicles. “Being a daddy’s girl this is something I have learned from him and we enjoy doing together,” she says.