Two Former Prosecutors Join Sills Cummis

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Two former prosecutors have joined Sills Cummis & Gross P.C. in Newark.

Patricia Prezioso is now co-chair of the firm’s employment and labor practice. Mary Toscano is a member of the firm with a focus on white-collar criminal defense, corporate internal investigations and commercial litigation.

Both are experienced trial attorneys who have tried multiple cases to verdict.

Prezioso provides comprehensive counsel to companies looking to manage risk or facing claims such as discrimination, harassment, whistleblower, retaliation, equal pay, invasion of privacy, defamation, FLSA claims and class actions, worker misclassification, disciplinary actions and discharge, and employee leaves. She has experience in matters involving restrictive covenants, government or administrative agency investigations, including before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the New York State Division of Human Rights and the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights, and defending businesses and entities from liability claims relating to alleged intentional acts of its employees or agents.

Prior to entering private practice, she served as chief of law enforcement services, deputy director and executive assistant attorney general for the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office Division of Criminal Justice. She was the lead prosecutor in State v. McGuire, a widely publicized New Jersey murder trial of a wife who shot her husband, chopped him up, put his body in three suitcases, and dumped them in the Chesapeake Bay in 2004.

Additionally, she served as an assistant district attorney at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, where she was both a designated homicide assistant and a member of the sex crimes unit. Prezioso has been featured in news specials on ABC, NBC, CBS and the Discovery Channel.

Toscano defends individuals and companies who are the focus of white-collar criminal investigations and RICO actions. Prior to joining the firm, she served as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, where she was the deputy chief of the criminal division. Her caseload included white-collar crimes, tax fraud, wire and mail fraud, money laundering and complex RICO matters, among others. She held a number of supervisory roles during her tenure as an assistant U.S. attorney, including supervising the unit in which new assistant U.S. attorneys were trained to be federal prosecutors in the District of New Jersey.

“We are pleased that two such distinguished and highly experienced trial attorneys have chosen to join Sills Cummis,” stated Managing Partner Max Crane in a prepared statement. He continued, “Having gotten to know Patti and Mary, I can say they are also quality individuals; they bring a lot to the Sills family. Our clients will greatly benefit from their expertise and counsel.”