White Plains firm DelBello Donnellan Weingarten Wise & Wiederkehr has added six lawyers from a smaller firm whose managing partner is expected to join the federal bench.

Lawyers from Collier Halpern & Newberg, co-founded by Philip Halpern, joined DelBello Donnellan this month, bringing about $4 million to $5 million in business and new capabilities in litigation and corporate work, according to DelBello Donnellan's managing partner, Al Donnellan.

President Donald Trump in late 2018 nominated Halpern for the Southern District of New York bench. With Halpern expected to be confirmed by the Senate in the coming weeks, it made sense for his former firm—which occupies the same White Plains office building—to join the DelBello firm, Donnellan said. The attorneys at Collier Halpern have been "adversaries, friends [and] colleagues" for many years, he added.

Joining DelBello Donnellan, which has grown from 30 attorneys to 36, are partners David A. Newberg, a corporate and securities lawyer; Harry Nicolay, a commercial litigator; and Scott Salant, also a commercial litigator. Their business was in the "four to five million dollar range," DelBello said.

Litigation associates Shari Hochberg and Lorenzo Venditti and of-counsel Peter Rosato, a former Westchester County Supreme Court justice, have also joined. Two others listed as counsel on Collier Halpern's website are retiring, and another, Lewis Siegel, runs his own bankruptcy firm and may work with DelBello Donnellan in the future, Donnellan said.

"We've been growing the firm since we started the firm in '95," he said. "Over the years, we have expanded into different practice areas that we didn't originally have, such as estates and trusts."

The firms had some common clients, including the Cappelli Organization, a real estate and construction firm, which Donnellan said had reacted positively to the move. For "a couple" clients, Donnellan said, his firm had been doing land-use and real estate legal work and Collier Halpern had been doing litigation work.

Newberg said in an email that Halpern's nomination was a great honor and said "the timing seemed right" to join with DelBello Donnellan. "We all think it will be a great fit for everyone," he wrote.

It's not technically a merger, Donnellan said. Collier Halpern is closing down and is working with its landlord and subtenants to turn over its old office space, and the six attorneys moving have already moved into DelBello Donnellan offices, he said.

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