By GREGORY ZELLER //
It’s already been a busy year for Long Island law firms, with regional practices combining, big names snagging corner offices – and now, a major out-of-market firm significantly increasing its Island stake.
Syracuse-based Bond, Schoeneck & King – a multistate powerhouse boasting roughly 250 attorneys and 30-plus practice groups – has absorbed Melville-based Lazer Aptheker Rosella & Yedid, a circa-1987 commercial-litigation operation.
The merger adds roughly 23 fresh attorneys to Bond’s stable and significantly strengthens its regional foothold: In addition to locations in New York City and West Palm Beach, Fla., Lazer boasts offices in Melville and East Hampton.
It also strengthens Bond’s hand in various practice areas. Founded in 1897, the firm – which already maintains a Garden City office – serves individual and corporate clients, nonprofits and public-sector entities across a broad range of areas; it now adds Lazer’s established expertise in real estate, tax law, trusts and estates, mergers and acquisitions and other corporate niches.
Kevin Bernstein: Like minds.
Appending Lazer’s “complementary practices” makes Bond “a top full-service law firm on Long Island,” according to Bond, Schoeneck & King Management Committee Chairman Kevin Bernstein.
“Bond and Lazer have discussed combining on and off over several years,” Bernstein said Tuesday. “Bond and Lazer are likeminded firms, and together we can offer a greater breadth of quality legal services to both client bases.”
The collaboration marks the latest significant move by a Long Island-based law firm in a year filled with them. Already in 2022, multinational legal eagle Greenberg Traurig has announced the opening of two new Long Island offices and welcomed former federal prosecutor and former Hofstra University Vice President Mark Lesko to the fold; Uniondale law firm Sahn Ward Braff Koblenz has absorbed Garden City firm Weinstein, Kaplan & Cohen; and Jericho-based international law firm Nixon Peabody has welcomed former Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy Sini as a new partner.
The move also marks Bond’s latest downstate reach. In 2021, the Syracuse-based firm absorbed NYC-based boutique law firm Putney, Twombly, Hall & Hirson, an employment-law specialist.
Bond now maintains 13 total offices, including nine in New York and operations in Boston, New Jersey, Florida and Kansas. As recently as 2020, the firm ranked among the nation’s top 200 law firms (by number of lawyers), making the merger a clear win for Lazer’s clients and professional staff, according to Lazer, Aptheker, Rosella & Yedid Managing Partner Ralph Rosella.
“This will be beneficial to our clients, and we’re excited to be part of a firm that can offer a broader array of legal services and excellent client service to help them realize their objectives,” Rosella said in a statement. “Our culture is a great fit with Bond’s, making this combination something that our attorneys are looking forward to.”
