Cole Schotz Announces Nine New Members 2022

Cole Schotz P.C. is pleased to announce that nine attorneys have been elevated to members of the firm, effective January 1, 2022.

The new members include Joseph Armenti, Elizabeth Carbone, Sarah Carnes, David Choyne, Jennifer Chung, Rebecca Hollander, Brian King, Krista Kulp, and Jennifer Lota, and are located across the firm’s New Jersey, New York, and Texas offices.

Joseph Armenti is a member of the Corporate, Finance & Business Transactions Department and is located in the firm’s New Jersey office. Mr. Armenti has a broad corporate practice, representing clients in corporate and governance matters, mergers/acquisitions, entity selection and formation, financing and loan transactions, joint ventures and investments. He earned his J.D., magna cum laude and Order of the Coif, from Seton Hall University School of Law. During law school, Mr. Armenti worked as a judicial intern in the chambers of both Judge William J. Martini in the United States District Court, District of New Jersey and Justice Barry T. Albin in the Supreme Court of New Jersey.

Elizabeth Carbone is a member of the Litigation Department and is located in the firm’s New Jersey office. Ms. Carbone joined the firm following a clerkship with the Honorable Ann Marie Donio, United States Magistrate Judge in the District of New Jersey, Camden Vicinage. As a federal law clerk, she assisted Judge Donio in preparing for and resolving a variety of complex legal issues brought both formally and informally before the Court in connection with all manner of federal cases. Ms. Carbone earned her J.D., cum laude, from Rutgers-Camden School of Law.

Sarah Carnes is a member of the Bankruptcy & Corporate Restructuring Department and is located in the firm’s New York office. Ms. Carnes advises clients on all aspects of restructurings, reorganizations, and liquidations, with an emphasis on representing official committees of unsecured creditors appointed in complex commercial chapter 11 bankruptcy cases. She also advises distressed companies and chapter 11 debtors, buyers of distressed assets, DIP lenders, liquidating trustees, and individual creditors. Ms. Carnes earned her J.D. from Fordham University School of Law.

David Choyne is a member of the Tax, Trusts and Estates Department and is located in the firm’s New York office. Mr. Choyne advises high net-worth individuals and families on estate and gift planning by integrating asset protection, lifetime gifting strategies and business succession planning. He drafts a wide range of documents, including wills and trusts, as well as insurance trusts, charitable trusts, dynasty trusts, grantor retained annuity trusts, spousal lifetime access trusts and intentionally defective grantor trusts. Mr. Choyne is also an active member of the New York City Bar, where he currently serves on the Estate & Gift Taxation Committee. Mr. Choyne earned his J.D. from the University of Miami School of Law.

Jennifer Chung is a member of the Real Estate Department and is located in the firm’s New York office. Ms. Chung focuses her practice on complex commercial real estate transactions and provides counsel to lenders, purchasers, sellers and borrowers in connection with construction, bridge and permanent financing, acquisitions and dispositions, development, leasing, and a wide variety of other real estate matters. Ms. Chung earned her J.D. from Columbia University School of Law where she was the articles editor of the Journal of Asian Law.

Rebecca Hollander is a member of the Bankruptcy & Corporate Restructuring Department, as well as the Real Estate Special Opportunities Group, and is located in the firm’s New Jersey office. Ms. Hollander regularly represents debtors, secured and unsecured creditors, unsecured creditors’ committees, as well as other parties in complex bankruptcy and foreclosure related litigation. Prior to joining Cole Schotz, Ms. Hollander clerked for the Honorable Andrew B. Altenburg, Jr., United States Bankruptcy Judge for the District of New Jersey, where she was actively involved in the administration and disposition of various issues in Chapter 7, 11, 12, and 13 bankruptcy proceedings. Ms. Hollander earned her J.D. from Boston University School of Law.

Brian King is a member of the Intellectual Property Group, as well as the Litigation Department, and is located in the firm’s Texas office. Mr. King focuses on commercial and intellectual property litigation, and has extensive experience with cases involving patent infringement, breach of contract, breach of warranty, tortious interference of contract, trade secret misappropriation, fraud, and breach of fiduciary duty. He also has represented fortune 500 corporations, technology companies, and inventors in complex multimillion dollar actions in numerous federal jurisdictions across the country. Mr. King graduated with honors from The University of Texas School of Law.

Krista Kulp is a member of the Bankruptcy & Corporate Restructuring Department, as well as in the Litigation Department, and is located in the firm’s New Jersey office. Ms. Kulp represents businesses in commercial litigation and disputes at the trial and appellate levels. Her experience also includes creditors’ rights and bankruptcy. Ms. Kulp has taken key roles in many components of civil litigation, such as writing pleadings and motions, drafting and reviewing discovery, taking and defending depositions, facilitating settlement negotiations, and advocating for clients at hearings and at trial. Ms. Kulp also serves as Editor-in-Chief of the e-newsletter for the American Bar Association’s Business Bankruptcy Committee, as well as the Communications Co-Chair for IWIRC-NY. Ms. Kulp earned her J.D. from Brooklyn Law School.

Jennifer Lota is a member of the Tax, Trusts and Estates Department and is located in the firm’s New Jersey office. Ms. Lota focuses her practice on tax and estate planning and has experience assisting clients in preserving assets for future generations while minimizing taxes. She earned her LL.M. in Taxation from New York University School of Law, and her J.D., cum laude, from Seton Hall University School of Law. While at Seton Hall, Jennifer served as Vice President of the Tax Law Society, an extern at the IRS Office of Chief Counsel, research assistant to Professor Tracy A. Kaye, and an Associate Editor of the Seton Hall Circuit Review. More recently, she was named as a “Rising Star” by New Jersey Super Lawyers in 2018 and 2020.