Scolaro Fetter Grizanti & McGough, P.C.

Who the firm works with

Founded in 1979, the firm practices from Syracuse, New York. Scolaro Fetter Grizanti & McGough, P.C. serves entrepreneurs, individuals, closely held and family-owned businesses, and professional practices. That client mix points to work centered on owners and the people who run companies.

Firms built around this kind of client usually mix day-to-day business advice with longer-term planning. As a reviewer, I read the firm's focus as one comfortable with client relationships that last for years.

The practice areas it covers

The firm's work spans several connected fields: business and tax law, estate planning, trusts and estate administration, employee benefits and executive compensation, family law, commercial real estate and land use, agricultural legal services, and litigation. A number of these areas overlap inside a single client's file. Handling them under one roof means a client can raise several needs in one conversation.

A business owner planning an estate often needs tax advice and a real estate review at the same time. The overlap is common enough that one lawyer frequently touches all three.

Business and tax counsel

Business and tax matters usually run alongside each other. A closely held company deals with formation, ownership agreements, and how profits are taxed as they pass to owners. Tax counsel here can mean planning a deal to limit exposure and, at times, responding to authorities when a filing draws questions.

Employee benefits and executive compensation add another layer. That work covers retirement plans, deferred pay, and the rules that govern them. The firm groups these with its business work, which fits how the questions tend to arrive.

Estate planning and administration

Estate planning and estate administration sit on either side of the same event. Planning sets up wills, trusts, and beneficiary designations while a client is living. Trusts can hold property for a spouse, children, or a charity, and each type carries its own tax and reporting rules.

Administration handles the estate afterward. An executor gathers assets, settles debts, and distributes what is left. A firm that does both can follow a plan through to the point it takes effect.

Real estate, land use, and agriculture

Commercial real estate and land use work covers purchases, leases, zoning approvals, and the board reviews that development often requires. Zoning questions usually go before a town or county board, where a proposal is aired in a public meeting before it can proceed.

Agricultural legal services point to a related client base: farms and rural landowners. Their matters can touch land use, business structure, and estate planning at once. Pairing agricultural work with commercial real estate is a sensible fit for a firm working across Upstate New York.

Family law and litigation

Family law covers matters such as divorce, custody, and support, which often move through negotiation before any hearing. Support and custody terms can be revisited later when circumstances change, so some family files stay active for years.

Litigation is the firm's route when a dispute needs a decision from a court. The attorneys also handle mediation and arbitration, so many disagreements settle through those channels first. The firm keeps both the settlement path and the trial path within reach.

How the team is built

The firm's attorneys page lists 14 lawyers. Among them are Georgia E. Amick, Alyssa M. Christian, Amy B. Egitton, Giancarlo Facciponte, Daniel J. Fetter, Jeffrey M. Fetter, Anthony J. Grizanti, William B. Magnarelli, Douglas J. Mahr, Stewart M. McGough, Robert L. Menard, and Michelle L. K. Olevano. Three of those surnames, Fetter, Grizanti, and McGough, also carry into the firm's name.

The attorneys hold licenses in several states. They appear in state, federal, and appellate courts, and they handle mediation and arbitration as well as litigation. Licensing across state lines lets the firm keep a matter in-house when it crosses a border. A team of this size can put more than one lawyer on a file that spans practice areas.

Where the firm handles matters

The firm works with clients across New York State. Its stated service areas include Rochester, Syracuse, Utica, Watertown, and Buffalo, along with Central and Upstate New York. Syracuse is the home base, and the other cities trace a working radius across the upstate region.

For a client whose matter touches courts in more than one county, that reach can be useful. Because the attorneys appear in appellate courts, a case can also be carried past a first decision when a client chooses to appeal.

What the record shows

The firm has practiced under the same core name since 1979. Its site sets out a group of connected practice areas, names its attorneys, and states the courts those lawyers work in. In my opinion, that adds up to a steady general business and estate practice with the staff to carry a dispute into court.

The practice areas connect in ways that let one team handle a business, its owners, and their estates. The firm has operated in Syracuse for more than four decades.