An Albany law firm will be adding offices in Washington, D.C. early next year, buoyed by a recent contract with the largest union of federal employees in the country.

Tully Rinckey & Associates PLLC plans to open a Washington office with three attorneys in the spring, while later adding a branch office in Utica, N.Y., firm partner Greg Rinckey said today. Before those sites open, the firm is scheduled to move its main office to 441 New Karner Road in Albany, a quarter-mile from its current site.

Rinckey said the firm hopes the Washington office will be "a springboard" for landing future contracts with federal agencies. Recently, the firm agreed to take on a backlog of 3,000 cases for the American Federation of Government Employees, Rinckey said. The union represents about 600,000 workers holding jobs with the federal government and the District of Columbia.

Steven Herrick, the firm's senior counsel, will move to Washington to head that office. Associate attorney Tracy Dam-Chieco will run the Utica office.