Garfunkel Wild, P.C.

Focus on the health care industry

The firm's client list comes entirely from one sector. Garfunkel Wild, P.C. works within the health care industry, and it took shape around the business and legal needs that come with that field. The firm names hospitals and health systems, physicians and physician groups, and long-term care providers among the clients it serves.

The list widens from there. The firm also works with ambulatory surgical centers, Federally Qualified Health Centers, telehealth providers, urgent care centers, laboratories, home care agencies, and newer companies entering the field. It says it was founded more than 40 years ago, and the site states that span without naming a specific year. In my opinion, a practice that keeps to one industry for that long tends to build real fluency in the rules that govern it, and health care ranks among the most heavily regulated fields a lawyer can pick.

What the client roster shows

The numbers the firm publishes give a sense of its reach across the sector. Garfunkel Wild says it has advised more than 100 hospitals and health systems. It counts 500 long-term care providers among its clients, along with 4,000 physicians.

The roster continues into more specific settings. The firm names 50 ambulatory surgical centers and more than 40 Federally Qualified Health Centers. Those figures come from the firm's own about page, and they cover care at large systems and at single-site providers alike. A base of that size across so many provider types suggests the firm has seen how similar legal questions play out in different care settings.

How the practice groups line up

The firm groups its work into transactional, regulatory, and litigation services. On the transactional side, it runs a corporate and mergers and acquisitions group, along with real estate and construction. Its regulatory work covers HIPAA and privacy, regulatory compliance, and medical staff credentialing.

Litigation and alternative dispute resolution form their own group. The firm also lists employment and workforce management, intellectual property and trademark, white collar criminal defense, and trusts, estates and private client services. That mix lets a single health care client bring several kinds of matters to one firm. The presence of private client services also points to the individual physicians and owners behind these organizations, whose personal planning often ties back to the businesses they run.

What the regulatory and compliance work involves

Health care regulation reaches into daily operations, and the firm's compliance groups map onto that. HIPAA and privacy work covers how providers handle patient records, breach notification, and the agreements that let outside vendors touch protected data. A privacy question can start with a lost laptop and end with a report to a federal office, so the timing of advice often counts.

Regulatory compliance in this field also runs through the fraud and abuse laws. The federal Anti-Kickback Statute and the Stark Law govern how physicians and facilities can refer patients and structure their payments. A transaction that looks routine in another industry can trigger these rules in health care, which is one reason the firm pairs its corporate group with regulatory counsel.

White collar criminal defense sits alongside this work. When a fraud review moves from a civil inquiry toward a criminal referral, a provider can face subpoenas, government interviews, and parallel proceedings at once. Defense counsel who already know the health care rules can shorten the learning curve on a matter like that, and David M. Traskey's time at the HHS Office of Inspector General speaks to that overlap.

Medical staff credentialing deserves a note for readers outside the field. Credentialing and peer review decisions run through hospital committees and medical boards, and they carry due process rules that differ from ordinary employment disputes. A physician facing a credentialing question often deals with bylaws, fair hearing procedures, and reporting obligations at the same time. Counsel who handle these matters regularly can help when a hospital's own process is already under way.

How the team is built

The firm says it has more than 90 attorneys. Andrew E. Blustein holds the title of Chairman. The listing shows a mix of ranks: Partner and Director titles, Senior Attorney, Of Counsel, and Associate.

Several names carry a specific health care or government background. Barry B. Cepelewicz holds an M.D. alongside his law degree, which places medical training inside the partner ranks. David M. Traskey is a partner and a former Senior Counsel at the HHS Office of Inspector General, the federal body that reviews health care fraud and abuse. James H. Knapp joined as a partner in 2025 after serving as Chief of the Long Island Civil Section for the Eastern District of New York.

Recent additions and promotions

The firm has kept building the partnership. Steven E. Frankel joined in 2026 as a partner in the Litigation and ADR group, and he handles complex commercial litigation and employment matters. Effective January 1, 2026, the firm promoted Michael D. Goldberg, Kristen M. Walsh, and Joshua M. Weiss to Partner. As a reviewer, I read that combination of lateral hires and internal promotions as a firm managing succession while it grows.

Other attorneys the site names include Lara Jean Ancona, Steven R. Antico, Adam T. Berkowitz, Greg E. Bloom, and Zachary B. Cohen among the partners. Gillian Barkins and Kathleen M. Brown appear as Senior Attorneys, Jeffrey S. Brown as Of Counsel, and Adrian Altunkara and Jenny D. Brown among the associates.

Where the firm works

Garfunkel Wild runs 6 offices. Two sit in New York, in Garden City and Albany. The others are in Stamford, Connecticut, Hackensack, New Jersey, Washington, DC, and Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

That footprint tracks the regulatory geography of health care. Albany puts the firm near New York State government, where much of the state's health care oversight sits. A Washington, DC office keeps it close to the federal agencies that write and enforce the rules. For a firm whose clients answer to both state and federal regulators, keeping offices near those seats of oversight has a practical logic. The Connecticut, New Jersey, and Florida offices extend its coverage along the East Coast.