Michael Gluck, a prominent Republican attorney, is leaving one of the state's most politically powerful law firms, DeCotiis, FitzPatrick, Gluck & Cole LLP, taking the firm's Trenton-based public finance practice with him to form a new firm that will have offices in the state capital and Red Bank, N.J.
Gluck -- son of Hazel Gluck, lobbyist and former New Jersey Gov. Christie Whitman's 1993 campaign co-chair -- will bring 13 of DeCotiis' Trenton-based attorneys, including bond lawyers Christopher Walwrath and James Fearon and tax-specialist Howard Eichenbaum, to his new firm -- Gluck, Walrath &Lanciano. The firm, which will begin operations in January, will focus on public finance, corporate health care, lobbying, tax litigation, estates, and pension matters.
Gluck's departure leaves a major gap in DeCotiis' Trenton public finance practice, which will now be co-chaired by William Mayer, the lone remaining bond lawyer in Trenton, and Steve Pearlman in DeCotiis' Teaneck office. Pearlman recently joined the firm from McCarter & English LLP.
"He's Gluck interested in going back to practice in a smaller-firm environment, focused on his core business of public finance and health care," said Eric Wisler, a partner at the firm that will be known as DeCotiis, FitzPatrick, Cole &Wisler LLP. Wisler said he did not know what prompted the timing of Gluck's departure.
Since Gluck, a founding partner, joined DeCotiis in 1994, the full-service firm has grown from 16 lawyers to a current 87, emphasizing litigation, public finance, governmental affairs and lobbying, corporate, health care, estate planning, and white-collar criminal matters. Other senior partners at the bipartisan firm include Robert DeCotiis, who served as chief counsel to former Democratic Gov. James Florio, and Alfred C. DeCotiis, who was nominated by President Clinton to be the U.S. representative to the United Nations General Assembly.
As of Dec. 23, DeCotiis FitzPatrick served as bond counsel on 33 New Jersey issues totaling $864.4 million, ranking fourth in the state among bond counsel, according to Thomson Financial Securities Data
Wisler said DeCotiis will continue to practice public finance law, shifting some of its statewide and national clients to lawyers in Teaneck, while recruiting public finance lawyers to beef up the Trenton office. Three partners and three associates will handle public finance duties in the meantime.
"Although it's disappointing that Michael felt the need to leave and start his own firm, we don't believe that they'll have any impact on our public finance practice," said Wisler. "We have skilled practitioners here and we have a desire to continue to grow that practice." Wisler, who will return to day-to-day public finance practice, most recently managed his firm's public finance clients in the Teaneck office.
According to a 1999 survey by the New Jersey Law Journal, DeCotiis ranked as the leading firm in profits per partner -- $781,800 -- in the Garden State, and 19th in gross revenues, at $22.9 million.
