Rosenberg Fortuna Filosa & Laitman, LLP

Focus and practice areas

The firm works mainly in business and corporate law, based in Garden City, New York, with a second office in New York City. Its corporate group handles entity selection and formation, corporate governance, contracts, and mergers and acquisitions. A company that needs a legal structure at the outset, or a different one as it grows, falls to this group. The firm places its emerging companies work next to technology, data, and privacy law, which points to advice for young businesses as well as established ones.

Real estate is a second area of the practice. That group handles commercial and residential transactions, so a company buying office space and an individual buying a home both fit its scope. A property closing runs through a contract of sale, title review, and the transfer of funds and deed, and a lawyer stands on each side to protect the client's position. Employment law covers the workplace side of a business client's needs, including hiring documents and disputes that reach a court. In my opinion, this mix reads as a firm built to keep a business client in one place for most of its legal questions.

Corporate and deal work

Entity formation is often the first thing a company needs, and it sets a great deal of what follows. The choice between a corporation, an LLC, or a partnership shapes taxes, liability, and how owners share control, so this early advice carries weight well past the filing. The firm handles that selection and the governance documents that go with it: bylaws, operating agreements, and the contracts that set out how a business deals with vendors, staff, and other companies.

Mergers and acquisitions are the more involved end of that work. A deal of that kind runs through due diligence, a purchase agreement, and a closing, with lawyers checking title to assets, existing contracts, and any liabilities the buyer would take on. The firm names this among its corporate services, and its litigation strength gives it a view of the disputes that can follow a deal that goes wrong. Pairing deal lawyers with litigators under one roof is a common way for a business firm to cover both the drafting and the fallout.

How the partnership grew

David I. Rosenberg started the firm in 1992 as David I. Rosenberg, P.C. Before that, he chaired the litigation department at Certilman Balin Adler & Hyman, LLP, in East Meadow, New York. That courtroom background shaped the firm from the start, and litigation has stayed central since.

The name on the door changed as partners came in. John A. Fortuna joined in 1994 and became a partner in 1999, when the firm reorganized as Rosenberg & Fortuna, LLP. Arthur S. Laitman, now the managing partner, joined in 1999 as an associate, won election to partner in 2006, and took his place as a name partner on April 1, 2008. Anthony R. Filosa joined in 2008, and his name appears in the current firm name. The full name, Rosenberg Fortuna Filosa & Laitman, LLP, records that run of promotions.

How the team is built

The firm describes itself as a boutique and lists ten attorneys, a mix of partners and of-counsel lawyers. Of counsel is a role that usually marks a senior lawyer tied to the firm without the ownership stake of a partner. Several of the partners carry long tenures. Fortuna has practiced here since 1994 and Laitman since 1999, so two of the four name partners have worked together for more than twenty years.

Newer partners bring their own histories. Brett D. Zinner joined in June 2013 and works in the commercial, corporate, and securities litigation groups, with jury trials, bench trials, and appeals to his name. Joseph P. Sacco joined in October 2015 as an associate and works across emerging companies, data handling and privacy, internet technology, and commercial litigation. Lee E. Riger joined as a partner in November 2020 after managing the litigation and appellate practice at Balfe & Holland, P.C. As a reviewer, I read a hire at that level as the firm building depth in its courtroom bench.

What the litigation record shows

Litigation runs through much of the firm's work, on both the transactional and dispute sides. Its litigators represent plaintiffs and defendants, and they appear before state and federal courts. Handling both sides means the firm's lawyers see how a case looks to an opponent, which can help in settlement talks and at trial. Filosa, a member of the litigation practice group, drafts appellate briefs, argues appeals, and handles trials, depositions, and commercial matters. Zinner's securities litigation work adds another layer to that group.

Appellate work is a named practice area, which is worth a word of context. An appeal turns on the written record and the briefs already filed, so a firm that argues appeals needs lawyers comfortable with close legal writing and oral argument before a panel. The firm lists that skill among several of its partners, which lines up with its long focus on disputes.

Who the firm represents

The firm counts Fortune 1000 companies, local family-run businesses, individuals, and municipalities among its clients, spread across Long Island, New York City, and the Tri-State area. Municipal work is a notable inclusion, since it puts the firm in front of public bodies and their particular rules on contracts and procedure. That breadth asks a small firm to move between very different kinds of matter.

A boutique that serves both a Fortune 1000 company and a family business has to shift register often. The corporate group can take a merger for a large company one week and an entity formation for a small firm the next. In my opinion, a ten-lawyer group that covers that span of client size says something useful about how the partners staff and divide their matters. The firm reports that it has grown over the two decades since it opened.