Continuing to add to its Hackensack office, New York-based Phillips Nizer has brought on attorneys from Piekarsky & Associates, including that firm's namesake and founder.

Litigator Scott Piekarsky joined as partner and brought along Jennifer O'Neill, a former health care general counsel, and fellow litigator Ernest Schoellkopff, according to a Nov. 18 Phillips Nizer release.

"With this team, we now have a full-service litigation presence throughout the state of New Jersey," said Marc Landis, Phillips Nizer's managing partner, in an email. "Scott is highly respected as a litigator, and also as an educator and mentor.

"Scott's practice in community association law also meshes with our New York real estate group, even if we refer to it as our Co-Op/Condo practice," Landis said. "We are pleased that the Piekarsky & Associates clients will continue to be represented by Scott and his team at Phillips Nizer. They now have our full firm's resources available to them."

The laterals "are generating work for us in New York as well," Landis added. "They became part of our Phillips Nizer family immediately."

Landis said Piekarsky & Associates is being fully integrated with Phillips Nizer and is "winding down."

A certified civil trial attorney, Piekarsky has decades of experience in insurance industry cases, and as legal counsel to community associations and homeowners associations, Phillips Nizer noted. He has represented licensed professionals before boards and in administrative hearings, as well as lawyers in the attorney ethics system, according to the same release.

Piekarsky is a member of the New Jersey Supreme Court Committee on Women in the Courts, which seeks to educate law students, the bench and bar on gender and LGBTQ issues.

He said in a statement that Phillips Nizer is known for taking on complex cases, which attracted him to join the firm.

"Phillips Nizer has a long reputation as one of the top regional firms in the New York/New Jersey area," Piekarsky said in the statement. "I've long been aware of the history of the firm and its prestige in many disciplines that my clients will now have access to. Their attorneys are well known for successfully taking on difficult cases and transactions. I'm very happy to be joining the firm as it expands its New Jersey platform."

Piekarsky earned his law degree from Seton Hall School of Law and clerked for Bergen County Assignment Judge Peter Ciolino.

Landis pointed to Piekarsky's knowledge of New Jersey courts and litigation versatility as important to the firm's plan to expand in New Jersey.

Just last month, Landis praised another notable addition to the same Hackensack office: family law practitioner Jan Bernstein from Sills Cummis & Gross. It was a familiar assignment of sorts for Bernstein, who launched a family practice at Sills Cummis in 2015 after leaving Riker Danzig Scherer Hyland & Perretti.

Bernstein joined Phillips Nizer as partner to chair the firm's New Jersey matrimonial and family law practice, effective Oct. 21. Also joining in the move were associate Lindsey de Stefan, also from Sills Cummis. A third attorney, Gregory L. Grossman, is to join the family practice in early December. He is currently an associate with LaRocca Hornik Rosen Greenberg & Crupi in Freehold.

Similarly, O'Neill and Schoellkopff are making the move with Piekarsky to Phillips Nizer.

O'Neill handles corporate and litigation matters, as well as employment and health-care issues. She is a former general counsel of Compassionate Healthcare, and before that was senior corporate counsel at The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. Inc. (better known as A&P). She was an assistant professor of management at Ramapo College's Anisfield School of Business. O'Neill received her law degree from Rutgers Law School, and her bachelor's degree from Ramapo College.

Schoellkopff handles commercial and real estate litigation, insurance coverage, products liability, and appeals. He's a frequent author, the release noted. He graduated from Dartmouth College and received his law degree from the University of Notre Dame Law School.

"Ernie is an appellate specialist in federal and state courts," Landis said. "Jen brings us expertise in health care, and her background as an in-house general counsel fits perfectly with our approach to clients—meeting them on their turf and making sure that we understand their needs."