Shulman joins Gilberti firm after exiting Scolaro firm

SYRACUSE — Attorney Barry Shulman, the former president and CEO of Scolaro Shulman Cohen Fetter & Burstein, P.C. in Syracuse, has joined the Syracuse law firm of Gilberti Stinziano Heintz & Smith, P.C.

He is serving of counsel with the Gilberti firm and isn’t part of the firm’s governance, he says.

“I joined Gilberti because there was a wonderful opportunity for me here with a compatible group of people,” says Shulman, who came aboard June 18.

Shulman is part of Gilberti’s corporate-practice group, which includes “discussing cases, discussing client issues, discussing new legal parameters,” he says.

The Gilberti firm has eight partners who are among 24 attorneys in offices located in Syracuse, Albany, and New York City. The law firm also has a vice president of development in its New York City office, six paralegals, and 22 support-staff members, according to Barbara Murphy, president of business and administration for the Gilberti firm.

In his career, Shulman has represented corporate and governmental entities, including local, regional, and state authorities, according to the Gilberti website. 

He negotiates commercial leases for landlords and tenants as well as contracts for the acquisition and development of shopping centers and other large commercial properties, the Gilberti website says.

Shulman has served as counsel to the New York State Senate Judiciary Committee, during which time he drafted the legislation enabling the creation of the Central New York Regional Transportation Authority and its many subsidiary corporations operating transit and major parking facilities throughout Central New York, according to the Gilberti website.

Former firm

Shulman declined to discuss his departure from the Scolaro firm, saying “there’s no benefit to anybody in discussing it.”

His exit followed the separation of the Scolaro firm and its health-care group, which created two new law firms that are operating in the same building at 507 Plum St. in Syracuse’s Franklin Square.

The Scolaro firm has changed its name to Scolaro, Fetter, Grizanti, McGough & King, P.C. Jeffrey Fetter is now serving as the firm’s president and CEO.

Its former health-care group has formed its own law firm with the name Cohen Compagni Beckman Appler & Knoll, PLLC.

The Scolaro firm addressed the separation of its former health-care practice group in a document it provided The Business Journal that announced its new name and structure.

“Our former health-care department has established its own firm to service their clients’ special needs and we look forward to continuing to work with one another when our clients require services provided by the other,” the document said.

In an article entitled, “Scolaro firm warns staff of possible health-care practice exit” in the March 22, 2013 issue of The Central New York Business Journal, Shulman, who was serving as the firm’s president and CEO at the time, said the firm had notified the staff on March 18 that the health-care practice might break off to join a downstate law firm.

In a June 5 interview, Stephen Cohen, a partner in the new firm, confirmed that the health-care practice group had considered aligning itself with another “large, health-care firm” in the Long Island area.

“We chose not to do that, but instead to form our own firm” Cohen says.

And, Shulman decided to pursue his new role with the Gilberti law firm, which is headquartered at 555 East Genesee St. in Syracuse.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com