I joined Kostelanetz in 2017 after having spent five years at a large law firm, 7 years at the Department of Justice Tax Division, and 4 years at a state prosecutor's office. In early 2017, I was looking to make a change. I knew I was looking for a smaller firm that focuses on tax and white-collar criminal defense.
I was familiar with Kostelanetz’s stellar reputation in these areas and had met several Kostelanetz lawyers through the ABA Tax Section. They were really impressive and seemed like they would be great colleagues. Kostelanetz seemed like a perfect fit. The problem was that my family and I lived in the Washington, DC, area, and Kostelanetz was in New York City.
Around the same time that I was looking for a new firm, my now-partner Caroline Ciraolo was coming to the end of her time as the Acting Assistant Attorney General of the DOJ Tax Division. We had gotten to know each other through the ABA Tax Section, and we had similar ideas about what kind of firm we were looking for. Although we considered several firms, we agreed that Kostelanetz was an ideal place to begin our work together. When Kostelanetz suggested that Caroline and I found a new DC office, all of the pieces fell into place.
When we started, it was a little lonely with just Caroline and me in the office, relying on support staff from the New York City office. Now, we have such an impressive team, with many of them hailing as Caroline and I did from government. Today, the DC office boasts a total of 4 partners, with the addition of Melissa Wiley and another former head of the DOJ Tax Division in Karen Kelly, a Director of Investigations in former IRS Criminal Investigation Chief Don Fort, counsels Andy Weiner and Nick Bahnsen, seven associates (Abigail Burke, Daniel Cady Davidson, Heather Fincher, Will Greco, Grace Hall, Robert McLeod, and Michael Waalkes), three paralegals, and an office manager!
As Kostelanetz has approached its 80th birthday, I have learned that Kostelanetz could have launched a DC office 63 years earlier, when one of the firm’s co-founders, Howard Corcoran, moved his practice to Washington. In 1954, multi-jurisdiction law firms were rare, so Corcoran joined his brother’s law firm in DC and then became a U.S. District Judge for the DC District. With changes in technology, working as one law firm from many locations is much easier today.
It’s hard to believe that I’ve been with the firm for nine years. But Caroline and I are so glad that we found our way to Kostelanetz.