L-R: Tremain Stanley, Thomas Baldwin, Susan Winters, Patricia Tuckman, Stephen McNamara and Deborah Nelson

A group of six lawyers is departing Budd Larner to launch a family law practice at Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi, which since mid-May has brought on 15 laterals in various practices.

Budd Larner is in the process of winding down, with plans to shut its doors in July.

Led by Susan Winters, a Budd Larner executive committee member, the family law group is joining the Chiesa firm's West Orange main office in two waves. Partner Tremain Stanley and associate Stephen McNamara started on Monday, while the others—Winters, partners Thomas Baldwin and Deborah Nelson, and associate Patricia Tuckman—are to begin as of July 1.

“From my perspective, I was looking for a high-quality, growing firm that didn't already have a family law group and wanted one,” Winters said in an interview, pointing to her new firm's “broad range of expertise in other areas of the law.”

For Chiesa Shahinian, launching a family practice “is one of the last pieces of the puzzle,” managing partner Daniel Schwartz said.

Name partner Francis Giantomasi said the firm has “historically referred out matrimonial matters of all sizes, shapes and forms” and “was on the lookout” for lateral targets who could create such a practice at the firm.

“We realized this is a practice you don't go lightly into,” Giantomasi said, saying of Winters, “we knew her; we knew her reputation.”

Winters joins as an equity partner, while the other partners are in the nonequity tier at Chiesa Shahinian. The two associates maintain their rank in the move. Also joining in the move is legal assistant Judith Gillman, who came with the group that started Monday.

Winters will chair the new practice group, while Stanley takes on the administrative role of practice group leader.

Chiesa Shahinian also has built a trusts and estates practice with other new additions in recent weeks: partners Heidi Hansen and Steven Loeb, counsel Tara Lotito, and associate John Paul D. Dziuba II. Hansen, Loeb and Dziuba came from Fein Such Kahn & Shepard; Lotito came from Goldman & Kramer.

Other lateral additions who have joined the firm since mid-May are: Adam Cook, also from Budd Larner, who is counsel in the corporate practice; James Arrabito, from Carter, Ledyard & Millburn, an environmental law associate; Jeanmarie Dunn-Kane, from Fein Such, a real estate associate; Gianni Corleone, from Ballard Spahr, a land use associate; and James Hearon, from White & Williams, an employment litigation associate.

Including Winters' group, the additions will push Chiesa Shahinian's attorney head count to 156, according to the firm, which also is opening new office space in Short Hills, at 830 Morris Turnpike, to help accommodate the family law group, which has many of its clients in that area. The space—up to 1,500 square feet, depending on the finalized layout—is scheduled to open in September, and will be for meetings and client consultations, not attorney office space, the lawyers said.

The addition of Winters' group comes soon after Budd Larner confirmed it would cease operations in July. Details on the exact timing of the closure weren't immediately clear.

Firm leader Peter Frazza didn't respond to an email for comment on Winters' move.

Winters declined to discuss the wind-down in the interview, but did note that the move represents a significant change for her after spending her entire career at Budd Larner.

“I have only been at one firm for 37 years, so it was an important move, and it had to be the right move,” said Winters, who noted that several firms reached out to her interested in adding her group.

The new environment “feels very comfortable already,” and the Chiesa firm has “gone above and beyond to do everything to accommodate our move,” Winters said. “Whatever concerns or worries I had are gone.”

Giantomasi said his firm and Budd Larner have a “like client base,” made up largely of New Jersey-based entrepreneurs and businesspeople.

“We think she's going to be just as good for our client base as we will be for servicing her client base,” he said.

Schwartz said, after meeting with Winters' group, “it was clear to us that the transition would be seamless.”

Winters' group is the second lateral departure of family law practitioners from Budd Larner in recent months. In mid-April, Karolina Dehnhard and David Tawil joined Norris McLaughlin in Bridgewater, where they were tasked with rebuilding the firm's family practice following the late 2018 departure of practice leader Jeralyn Lawrence. Lawrence took her group to launch a spinoff firm in Watchung.