Bond Schoeneck Absorbs 6-Attorney Law Firm

Christine Simmons

New York Law Journal

01-07-2013

Syracuse-based Bond, Schoeneck & King has absorbed a six-attorney firm that focuses on the long-term care industry, including nursing homes and assisted-care facilities. The six lawyers from Ruffo Tabora Mainello & McKay's offices in Albany, Pittsford and Lake Success are joining Bond Schoeneck's offices in Albany, Rochester and Garden City. With the addition, Bond Schoeneck said it is creating a separate practice for long-term care industry clients, with David Ruffo and Raul Tabora Jr. co-chairing the new group. Ruffo, Tabora, Mark Mainello and John McKay III join Bond Schoeneck as partners, while John Darling and Damien Bielli join as senior counsel.

Richard Hole, chairman of Bond Schoeneck's management committee, said the Ruffo Tabora attorneys have functioned as general counsel for several nursing homes throughout the state, helping clients in contracts, Medicare and Medicaid issues, general regulatory matters, financing, corporate governance and in litigation.

Bond Schoeneck, a 200-attorney firm with 11 offices, including nine in New York, served long-term care clients in specialized areas, such as business restructuring and employee benefits, within its health care practice. But Hole said the firm didn't carve out a separate practice for the industry until this addition. "We saw them a perfect complement," he said. "They had certain skill sets that we didn't have in abundance." Hole said the firms had some common clients and began talking early last year.