Law Offices Of Thomas Sciacca, PLLC
Law Offices Of Thomas Sciacca, PLLC
Thomas Sciacca, Esq.
Tom Sciacca is a highly experienced Trusts and Estates attorney. After starting his legal career as an associate in a boutique midtown firm focusing on trusts and estates and elder law, Tom founded Sciacca Law in 2007.
Tom is a frequent lecturer and panelist on trusts and estates matters. He also teaches as an adjunct assistant professor at New York University’s School of Professional Studies (SPS).
Education
New York University School of Law, LL.M. (taxation) May 2010
Pace University School of Law, J.D. (cum laude) May 2003
Distinction: Julian Hyman Memorial Scholarship for Excellence in Trusts & Estates
Executive Productions Editor, Pace Law Review (note published)
University at Albany, State University of New York, B.A. August 1999
Bar Admissions
New York
New Jersey
Florida
United States Tax Court
Letisya Tekiroglu, Esq.
Letisya Tekiroglu assists with estate planning, probate and estate administration, and Surrogate’s Court litigation.
During law school, she interned in various law firms and clinics, practicing immigration law, medical malpractice, and real estate. She currently lives in New York City with her husband and two kids.
Education
Hofstra University, B.A., 2012
Elisabeth Haub School of Law, J.D. 2019
Bar Admissions
New York
Charles Tye Miller, Esq.
Charles assists with estate planning, probate and estate administration, and Surrogate’s Court litigation.
Prior to working at Sciacca Law, he practiced landlord/tenant law at a non-profit in Brooklyn for two years.
Education
Brooklyn College, B.A., 2018
Brooklyn Law School, J.D. 2022
Bar Admissions
New York
Norman Piasecki – Norman Piasecki joined the firm in 2009. Norman schedules client appointments, performs paralegal services, and keeps the firm humming.
Norman is a 2001 graduate of the University of Massachusetts—Amherst with a Degree in Geography and minor in Asian Studies.
Erica Bell is a graduate of the Fordham University School of Law, where she was a member of the Law Review and the Moot Court Board. She has a long history in the field of estate planning and probate matters. She was a partner in the firm of Weiss, Buell & Bell for 26 years before opening her solo practice, The Law Office of Erica Bell, PLLC in 2016. Prior to focusing on trusts and estates practice, she was a litigator, serving as Law Clerk to federal judge Inzer B. Wyatt in the Southern District of New York and then as a litigation associate at the firms of Willkie Farr & Gallagher and Stillman Friedman & Shaw. She is honored to become Of Counsel to the Law Offices of Thomas Sciacca, PLLC.
In addition to practicing law, she has been a frequent lecturer on trusts and estates topics, especially issues pertaining to estate and financial planning for domestic partners, same-sex spouses, and non-traditional families, at the Bar Association of the City of New York, UJA-Federation New York Estate, Tax & Financial Planning Conference, Practising Law Institute, New York County Lawyers Association, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, US Trust, and various charitable and community service organizations.
Among her proudest achievements was serving as co-counsel with Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund in Matter of H. Kenneth Ranftle, 917 N.Y.S.2d 195 (App. Div. 1st Dep’t 2011), which affirmed the New York County Surrogate Court’s holding that the surviving spouse in a Canadian same sex marriage was the sole legal heir of his deceased partner. That case was the first higher court decision expressly recognizing the validity of a same sex marriage for inheritance rights and was later cited in United States v. Windsor, the ground-breaking Supreme Court case recognizing same sex marriage under federal tax laws. Another source of pride is her long professional relationships with a number of clients, some for more than 35 years.
Ms. Bell has served on the Committee on Trusts, Estates and Surrogates Courts at the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and is a member of the New York Women’s Bar Association (Former Co-Chair, Trusts and Estates Committee); New York State Bar Association; American Bar Association; Lesbian and Gay Law Association of Greater New York (“LeGaL”); and the Fordham Law Review Alumni Association.
Richard Tesler graduated from Syracuse University College of Law in 1982 and is a member of the Bar of the State of New York. He began his own solo practice at the height of the AIDS crisis in 1991 having previously worked for American Express and the NYC Dept. Housing Preservation & Development. Rich has had over forty years of legal experience spanning the fields of estate planning, probate and real estate. He has represented small businesses & co-ops, as well as many individuals who initially required significant discretion. Rich is also a member of the Lesbian and Gay Law Association of Greater New York (“LeGaL”). He has conducted hundreds of Real Estate closings, advised co-op boards, drawn hundreds of wills and has been fortunate to have experienced multigenerational representation from clients within the same family. He has probated or administered dozens of estates and has won every challenge ever made in doing so.
Rich was membership chairman and board member of Cong. Beit Simchat Torah. His firm grew in thirty-five plus years to having over 1,000 clients throughout the metropolitan area and the Hamptons. Rich has always understood the importance of one’s being super comfortable with their attorney to facilitate the legal protections clients need to preserve and grow their assets; and, most importantly, empower themselves and the people they choose to speak for them in times of trouble. Knowing that he’s been instrumental in having clients’ wishes met at the end of their life’s journey has been and continues to be quite satisfying. Richard Tesler is very excited to be part of this smooth transition as his probate practice will be at the Sciacca Law Firm.
