Meltzer, Lippe, Goldstein & Breitstone has welcomed three to the law firm, which is headquartered in Mineola. The firm has also added a practice group.
Laura Brancato is now a partner in the firm’s newly formed elder law litigation practice group. Alexander Gayer is a partner in the firm’s corporate practice group. And Jerome Hesch is counsel to the firm’s business and real estate taxation, trusts and estates, tax exempt organizations and private wealth and taxation practice groups.
Brancato’s practice will complement the firm’s existing trusts and estates practice, according to Meltzer Lippe.
The firm’s new elder law litigation practice group will provide thought leadership and personalized service to clients. Brancato is seasoned in all areas of litigated elder-law matters, including adult guardianship proceedings, power of attorney litigation, mental health law litigation and related services.
“I am thrilled to be joining the successful team at Meltzer Lippe,” Brancato said in a statement.
“I am excited to bring this new practice area to a firm with a well-established reputation for success in a variety of litigated fields,” she added.
She said that the practice group “will provide our clients with a full range of services specifically tailored to meet the needs of our most vulnerable clients.”
“The addition of Laura and her vast experience and knowledge in elder law will further strengthen the ability to assist our new and existing clients,” Meltzer Lippe Managing Partner David Heymann said in a statement.
“Her immense passion and individual approach to every client meshes perfectly with our vision of how law should be practiced, and she will be an invaluable asset to our firm and clients,” he added.
Gayer brings expertise in representing both new and existing privately owned companies. His focus includes negotiating and drafting shareholder, operating and partnership agreements and employment contracts, negotiating and drafting documents relating to the acquisition or sale of a business.
Other areas of focus include raising capital through private securities offerings and advising clients on protecting their intellectual property rights.
Hesch has served as an income tax and estate planning consultant for lawyers and other tax planning professionals throughout the country, and as a consultant for other firms, including Meltzer Lippe.
He is the director of the Notre Dame Tax and Estate Planning Institute, scheduled this year for November 10-11, and serves on the Tax Management Advisory Board. He is also a fellow of the American College of Trusts and Estates Council and the American College of Tax Council. He is a published author of articles and also a law school casebook on federal income taxation.
He has presented papers for the University of Miami Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning, the University of Southern California Tax Institute, the Southern Federal Tax Conference and the New York University Institute on Federal Taxation, among others. He has participated in several bar association projects, including the Drafting Committee for the Revised Uniform Partnership Act.
He was with the Office of Chief Counsel, Internal Revenue Service (1970-1975) and a full-time law professor at the University of Miami School of Law and the Albany Law School of Union University for 20 years. He continues to teach courses as an adjunct law professor.