By Joshua Burd
Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi PC has announced five new additions to its team of real estate, development and land use attorneys.
Joining the West Orange-based firm are attorneys Evelyn Baert, Jennifer Garster, Amy Howlett and Irene Karsos. They come to CSG Law alongside Daniela Alves, who will be the real estate team’s first practice group administrator.
“The strategic growth of the CSG Law Real Estate team mirrors our dedication to our expanding client base and further enhances the depth and breadth of our group,” said Mitchell Berkey, chair of the CSG Law real estate group. “The addition of junior attorneys and a practice group administrator, on top of five hires earlier in 2022, evidences our deep commitment to addressing our clients’ present and future needs and growing along with them.”
Baert graduated from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law this past May, was an intern with CSG Law during her third year and will focus her practice on land use, according to a news release. She earned her B.A. in 2017 from New York University and is fluent in French.
Garster, meantime, was a summer associate with CSG Law in 2021 and returns to focus her practice on real estate financing. Before joining the firm, she clerked for Judge Michael A. Shipp in the District of New Jersey, while she earned her J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law and her bachelor’s from Loyola University of Maryland.
Howlett, who will focus on commercial leasing and transactions, returns to the practice of law after having served in various capacities in the business, academic and legal worlds, the news release said. She was co-founder of a retail and incubator space based in Essex County, staff attorney at the Center for Appellate Litigation in New York, an associate at a New York-based firm and an adjunct professor at Fordham University School of Law.
CSG Law added that Howlett clerked for Judge John F. Keenan in the Southern District of New York, while she earned her J.D. from Fordham University School of Law and her bachelor’s in politics and international relations from Scripps College.
Karsos joins the firm following a clerkship with Superior Court Judge Frank J. DeAngelis, sitting in Morristown, and earned her J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law and received her bachelor’s in philosophy, politics and law from Binghamton University. Fluent in Greek, she will focus her practice on real estate transactions.
As the real estate team’s first practice group administrator, Alves will take on responsibilities including talent and professional development, performance metrics analysis and other administrative matters, the news release said. Before joining CSG Law, she served as practice group administrator at a global law firm, where she managed the talent and professional development for the corporate and securities, global tax and employee benefits teams.
Alves is fluent in Portuguese and Spanish.
