Partner

  • Robert W. Birch, Esq.

    First admitted to the New York Bar in 1983, Robert W. Birch joined Robert B. Schlather in the practice of law in Cooperstown in 1986 where the two developed a specialty and reputation for excellence in real property, estate planning and general business law for more than forty years. Bob graduated from Albany Law School of Union University in 1982. Prior to law school, in 1979 Bob earned his Bachelor of Science from Cornell University's School of Industrial & Labor Relations. Bob is admitted to practice in New York State, the Northern District of New York and Florida. He is a member of the New York State Bar Association and the Florida Bar Association; he is a past president of the Otsego County Bar Association and has chaired its Real Property Committee for more than 25 years. Due to his extensive real estate practice, Mr. Birch also owns and operates Cooper Country Abstract Company, Inc, an agent for Westcor Land Title Insurance Company and Old Republic Title Insurance Company, Inc, providing title searching and title insurance services to the banking and legal community in a four county area surrounding Cooperstown in Central New York.

    Mr. Birch is a former president and an active member of the Cooperstown Rotary Club, past Scoutmaster with the Boy Scouts of America Cooperstown Troop 12 and Assistant Scoutmaster for Troop 1254. Mr. Birch also is a former Trustee of Friends of Bassett Healthcare. He is an active parishioner at Christ Episcopal Church of Cooperstown, formerly serving as Senior Warden, Vestryman, Chair of the Rector Search Committee, Stewardship Chair and teacher. Bob and his wife Marcy have welcomed into their home more than 10 area youth as Foster Parents and have hosted as many Rotary exchange students from throughout the world for more than 30 years.

Schlather & Kinley, CPA

Of Counsel

  • Patrick R. Kinley CPA

    Patrick R. Kinley, CPA

    Patrick R. Kinley, CPA moved to the Cooperstown area in 2013. He was previously a Tax Manager with Bank of America's International Tax Planning group where he specialized in foreign tax credit planning. Prior to that he spent four years at KPMG LLP in the federal tax practice. He has more than 15 years of experience assisting clients in the areas of individual and business taxation.

    Patrick obtained his Masters in Accountancy from the University of North Carolina - Charlotte. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, magna cum laude, earning a B.S. in Chemistry.

    Patrick is licensed as a Certified Public Accountant in New York. He lives in Fly Creek with his wife and three sons and has previously served on the Board of Directors of The Pathfinder Village Foundation and the Brookwood School. Patrick has also previously served as the Treasurer of the Cooperstown Rotary Club and the Cooperstown Soccer Club.

Tina Douglas

Tax Assistant

Debbie Ritton

Tax Assistant

Schlather & Birch

  • Anthony Birch

    Law Clerk

  • Tina Douglas

    Legal Assistant

  • Susan Gelatt

    Paralegal

  • Eileen Russell

    Paralegal

  • Amanda Upson

    Legal Assistant

  • LeighAnne Weygand

    Legal Assistant

Cooper Country Abstract

  • Kay Carson

    Title Drafter

  • Melissa Silver

    Abstractor

  • Teresa Ubner

    Title Examiner

Robert B. Schlather, Esq.

Founding Partner

1946 - 2022

COOPERSTOWN - Robert B Schlather, Esq., Cooperstown lawyer, CPA and philanthropist, died on 27 April 2022 as a result of a brain tumor diagnosed in June 2020. He was 75.

Following his graduation cum laude from the University of Notre Dame Law School, Bob passed both the New York State Bar and the Certified Public Accountancy Exams in 1971 , commencing work in the tax department of Price Waterhouse & Co. in both New York City and London.

As both an attorney and a certified public accountant, Mr. Schlather began his law and accountancy practice in Cooperstown in 1977 with a focus on estate and trust planning and administration, tax planning and preparation, real property, and general business law. In 1986, Robert W. Birch Esq. joined Bob Schlather, and the two formed Schlather & Birch, Attorneys at Law. To better serve their growing real estate practice, in 1987 they formed Cooper County Abstract Company, Inc., the largest abstract and title insurance company in Central New York. In recent years, Bob Schlather joined with fellow CPA Patrick R. Kinley to form Schlather & Kinley CPAs PLLC.

For more than forty years, Bob wove himself into the fabric of the greater Cooperstown community. A longtime devotee of the Glimmerglass Opera, Bob served the now Glimmerglass Festival as chairman of the board of trustees, treasurer of the board and briefly as interim general director. Mr. Schlather also served as trustee and treasurer for more than 30 years of the Friends of Bassett Healthcare, and as trustee and president of Helios (Hospice) Foundation. He particularly enjoyed working with the parents of residents of Pathfinder Village, helping to ensure that those residents could remain at Pathfinder for as long as each chose. A Paul Harris Fellow, Bob was an active member and former president of the Cooperstown Rotary Club. He served nine years as trustee of Hartwick College and was a founding member of the Community Foundation of Otsego County.