Page 16 - RE-NJ

14 JUNE 2024
From left: Scarinci Hollenbeck LLC’s growing commercial real estate team includes Michael Jedziniak, Kaylin Olsen, Donald Pepe, Robert L. Baker Jr., Michael Willner and Matthew Kane.
‘A FOCUSED EXPANSION’
Scarinci Hollenbeck says it’s now a one-stop shop for real estate — with clear growth potential
It’s one thing to become the proverbial one-stop shop, as Scarinci Hollenbeck LLC has
sought to do with a series of recent additions to its real estate department. But the Little Falls- based law firm has also keyed on what it sees as important growth areas in the space.
That strategy is now taking shape
at Scarinci, whose long-established real estate team has grown to 15 full-time attorneys from nine last summer, adding new expertise in everything from affordable housing and litigation to foreclosures and landlord-tenant disputes in the wake of the pandemic.
“It’s a focused expansion,” said Donald Pepe, a partner and chair
of the firm’s commercial real estate practice. “We went out and we expressly looked for people who can provide the types of services that we’re observing that the clients need more and more.”
That means differentiating Scarinci Hollenbeck
firm can truly deliver for real estate clients that are increasingly seeking a full-service option, one that will draw on its robust environmental practice and its existing bench of real estate lawyers.
“I think we’ve created the comfort zone by offering all of these otherwise niche practice areas in one team, not just one law firm,” said Donald Scarinci, the firm’s managing partner. “Law firms
are not necessarily teams. What we’ve done is we’ve created a
team to handle complex real estate real estate projects, so there’s a coordinated approach, which ends up being cost-effective to the client and a lot easier for the client to manage.”
One of the team’s newest additions, Michael Jedziniak, arrived Jan. 15 with nearly
25 years of
experience in
the complex,
often
contentious
world of
litigation tied to
local affordable
housing
obligations in New Jersey. He expects that practice to remain highly active after a law signed by Gov. Phil Murphy in March, which sets a course for a new round of municipal requirements under the guidance of the state’s Department of Community Affairs.
Donald Pepe
competent in, but it’s not their specialty,” Pepe added. It’s also meant to create confidence that the
from “generalized real estate groups where attorneys ... will venture into areas that they might be reasonably
Michael Jedziniak
By Joshua Burd
Photos by Aaron Houston for Real Estate NJ