Also reported in: Bloomberg Law, NJBiz, Law360, NJ Law Journal, Traders Magazine.
New Hires bolster the firm’s national practices in the North East market.
Florham Park, N.J. – April 15, 2020 – The law firm of Bressler, Amery & Ross today announced that Joseph L. Calabrese has joined the firm as a Principal in the Financial Institutions Group in its New York office. At the same time, the firm announced it has hired Megan Cannella as a Counsel in the Private Client Practice in its New Jersey office.
Although both of the firm’s new hires comes from a very different background, both will impact Bressler in the same way – by strengthening and reinforcing the firm’s geographic scope and national practice areas.
Joseph L. Calabrese
With 15 years of Securities Litigation/Regulatory experience, Mr. Calabrese is a veteran of banking and Wall Street, including the last 11 years as an Executive Director and senior member of the Wealth Management Client Litigation Group at Morgan Stanley. Prior to that, he served as an Associate General Counsel for five years at Citigroup Global Markets’ Smith Barney division. Mr. Calabrese began his career at the Kings County D.A.’s Office and spent the majority of his 13 years there as a homicide prosecutor. He currently teaches Trial Advocacy at St. John’s University Law School and is a FINRA Arbitrator, as well as serving as Associate Village Justice in his hometown on Long Island.
“Since our New York office is right in the heart of the financial district, we are always on the lookout for leading attorneys with Wall Street experience,” said Bressler New York office Managing Principal Mark Knoll. “Joseph is a great addition to the firm and our clients will be well served by his keen knowledge and insights from his many years of industry experience.”
Mr. Calabrese complements Bressler’s New York office, which has several attorneys rich in experience working at brokerage houses and Wall Street companies.
While at Morgan Stanley, he managed the Early Dispute Resolution Team, a 30-member group consisting of attorneys, analysts and paralegals located in New York, Baltimore and Mumbai. Mr. Calabrese managed and built teams that were responsible for all regulatory coding and reporting of all retail U.S. litigation, regulatory inquiries, and customer complaints. His teams were also responsible for the investigation and response to all retail third party subpoena and deposition practice and investigation and response to U.S. retail customer complaints and related regulatory inquiries.
Prior to entering into the management ranks at Morgan Stanley, he was responsible for a nationwide caseload of legacy Smith Barney litigation as well as a full Morgan Stanley caseload of retail arbitrations (in-house and supervising outside counsel), and regulatory investigations brought by FINRA, the SEC, CFTC, and state and local agencies.
At Citigroup, Mr. Calabrese was an Associate General Counsel in Citi’s Smith Barney Division, where he was responsible for a nationwide caseload of retail arbitrations and regulatory investigations, as well as counsel to Compliance and other Smith Barney divisions including conducting internal investigations of registered Smith Barney employees.
Mr. Calabrese earned a J.D. from St. John’s University School of Law in 1991 and a B.S. in Journalism from St. John’s in 1988.
Megan Cannella
Ms. Cannella has experience drafting various estate planning instruments, including sophisticated wills, various trusts, durable powers of attorney and advanced directives for health care. She also advises families and individuals on retirement and business-succession planning issues, strategically planning for the management and beneficial transfer of wealth. Prior to joining Bressler, Ms. Cannella was an associate in the New Jersey office of a major law firm, and an associate at a boutique tax and estate firm.
On her joining the firm, Private Client Practice Chair Frederick K. Schoenbrodt, II, said: “At this time of unsettled markets and a battered economy, our clients will be well served by Megan’s exceptional experience and background handling a wide range of trusts and estates issues.”
In the T&E area, Ms. Cannella counsels executors, administrators and beneficiaries on the administration and taxation of estates and advises trustees and trust beneficiaries on the administration and taxation of trusts. Philanthropy is also an important part of her clients’ planning She assists clients in tax-efficient charitable giving and provides general representation to tax-exempt organizations, advising them on qualifications for tax-exempt status, governance best practices, and policies for financial and legal compliance.
Ms. Cannella received her J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law in 2012 and a B.A. from Rutgers University in 2008.