SYRACUSE — Smith, Sovik, Kendrick & Sugnet P.C., a Syracuse–based law firm, has opened an office in White Plains, adding to its presence in the New York City area.

The new office allows the firm to “cover more efficiently a greater territory” north of New York City where client demand for the firm’s services is “growing,” the firm said in a May 16 news release. 

The firm has had “more and more” clients asking it to represent them in the Downstate area, says Kevin Hulslander, the firm’s managing partner.

The firm’s business in the New York City area is “booming,” he added in a June 15 interview with CNYBJ.

Smith, Sovik, Kendrick & Sugnet has been operating an office in East Meadow on Long Island for the past six years. 

“In order to best serve all of the downtown venues, including the counties north of New York City, we needed to open the White Plains office, so that we could logistically serve those counties and represent our clients in those counties in addition to Long Island and New York City,” he says.

Besides the offices in White Plains and East Meadow, the firm operates its main office at 250 S. Clinton St. in Syracuse. It also operates an office in Buffalo.

The firm decided to pursue an office in White Plains last December because it was “difficult” servicing its New York City-area clients with just the office in East Meadow, says Hulslander.

It cost the firm “very little” to open the new office, he added. 

“We had to buy some furniture, get the Internet connected, and enter into a new lease, so it was a minimal amount of money,” says Hulslander.

Attorneys Debra Salvi and Michael (Mike) Flake and one associate attorney occupy the new office. 

“Deb [Salvi] literally lives five minutes away from the office in White Plains. Mike Flake lives 15 minutes away from the office,” says Hulslander.

Besides opening the new office in White Plains, the firm also says attorneys Kenneth Boyd and John Goldman have returned to the firm and are working in the Long Island office.

“They left to go to different law firms,” he says, noting that they decided that they wanted to come back. “They were both gone for about a year.” 

Both had previously worked out of the Long Island office, he added. 

Serving clients

Smith, Sovik, Kendrick & Sugnet has between 10 and 15 regular insurance clients that it services in the New York City area. 

Hulslander declined to name any of the firm’s clients but indicated that they’re all “large” insurance companies. 

“We do a lot of defense work and we’re retained by insurance companies to defend their [clients] … those are our primary clients Downstate,” he added. 

The firm also plans to hire additional attorneys for both the White Plains and the Long Island office, and adding another office is also part of the firm’s future plans. 

“We do foresee opening a New York City office at some point within the next five years,” says Hulslander.

Founded in 1946, Smith, Sovik, Kendrick & Sugnet, P.C. describes itself as an “aggressive, innovative” litigation boutique law firm in its news release. 

The firm has a total employee count of 68, including 35 attorneys. Of its 35 attorneys, nine are equity partners, according to Hulslander. Its Syracuse office has 29 attorneys.

Its attorneys defend individuals, professionals, corporations, and other entities against personal injury, malpractice, and commercial claims in state and federal courts throughout New York, according to the news release.