Joseph J. Manna, Esq. is the Founder of Invisible Elephant Consulting, where he advises family businesses in Western New York and across multi-jurisdictional and global operations on governance, succession, and communication. He is also a Managing Partner and trial lawyer at Lipsitz Green Scime Cambria LLP, with over 30 years of experience serving as lead counsel in complex family business disputes and other high-stakes litigation.

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Joe’s advisory work is informed by decades in the courtroom. He has seen firsthand that family businesses rarely fail because of market forces—they fail when family systems break down due to unresolved dynamics, unclear governance, and poorly managed transitions.

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Joe was first recognized for his niche practice in 2011, when he was featured in a Buffalo Business First article on how to avoid business divorce. Joe deepened this focus through certification in Family Business Leadership at Cornell University. He is also a member of the Family Firm Institute, a premier global professional association for advisors and consultants dedicated to family enterprise enlightenment and success.

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With decades of litigation experience, he now works collaboratively with founders, successors, and multi-generational families to design governance systems that bring clarity to decision-making, ownership, and communication before conflict arises.

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His work centers on the issues families tend to avoid—the “invisible elephants”—including succession, control, compensation fairness, sibling equity, spousal influence, and leadership transition. Joe helps family enterprises develop practical governance frameworks that protect both enterprise value and family relationships, including:
 

• Family governance structures and policies

• Succession and generational transition planning

• Ownership, compensation, and incentive alignment

• Facilitated communication across generations and family branches

 

Joe's approach is grounded in a clear principle: most family business disputes—and many business failures—are preventable when families address difficult issues early, directly, and with structure.