SYRACUSE — The Syracuse–based law firms Cohen Compagni Beckman Appler & Knoll, PLLC (CCBLaw) and Wood & Smith P.C., which both focus on health-care law, will become one on Jan. 1. The discussions that led to the eventual combination happened “casually” for a few years, according to Michael Compagni, an attorney and partner with CCBLaw. […]
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SYRACUSE — The Syracuse–based law firms Cohen Compagni Beckman Appler & Knoll, PLLC (CCBLaw) and Wood & Smith P.C., which both focus on health-care law, will become one on Jan. 1.

The discussions that led to the eventual combination happened “casually” for a few years, according to Michael Compagni, an attorney and partner with CCBLaw.
“We come across them often. We know each other,” he says. The discussions on a merger accelerated this past summer, with both firms believing “the timing is right.” Compagni spoke with CNYBJ on Nov. 27.
The new combined firm will use the Cohen Compagni Beckman Appler & Knoll, PLLC (CCBLaw) name.
Attorneys Bruce Wood and Bruce Smith will join the firm as partners and will conduct their legal work in the CCBLaw office at 507 Plum St., according to Compagni.
Wood & Smith currently operates an office in One Lincoln Center at 110 W. Fayette St. in Syracuse, according to its website.
CCBLaw currently has 11 attorneys, eight of whom are partners in the firm, according to its website. The firm also has seven support-staff members for a total employee count of 18, according to Anastasia Semel, an attorney with CCBLaw.
The Wood & Smith firm has one support staff member in addition to its two attorneys for whom the law firm is named. Wood and Smith formed their firm in 1998.
When the merger takes effect, CCBLaw’s employee count will increase to 21 employees, with the addition of those three employees.
About the law firms
Both firms have physician-centered practices, providing business, transactional, and regulatory counsel to physician groups, provider networks, ambulatory surgery centers, health-care joint ventures, and ancillary service providers.
The combination of the two law firms will add depth to what they offer clients, Compagni says.
“Although [Wood & Smith] focus on health law, they also do a lot of business and real estate [client work] and we do that [as well], primarily as support for our health-law clients, but that will again provide more depth for both sides,” he explains.
The merger will also “further strengthen” CCBLaw’s existing business, finance, and commercial real-estate practices, he adds.
The firms’ integration will provide Wood & Smith’s clients with access to CCBLaw’s existing areas of practice in commercial litigation, labor and employment, ERISA, employee benefits, and professional license defense. ERISA is short for the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974.
The integration will “further CCBLaw’s goal of continuing to be a preeminent boutique health law firm in New York State,” the firm contended in its news release announcing the merger.