Sills Cummis & Gross Welcomes Former Prosecutors Patricia M. Prezioso and Mary E. Toscano as Members of the Firm

Sills Cummis & Gross is pleased to announce the addition of Patricia M. Prezioso and Mary E. Toscano as its newest Members of the Firm.  Ms. Prezioso will co-chair the Firm’s Employment and Labor Practice.  Ms. Prezioso concentrates her practice on employment defense, investigations and white collar criminal defense.  Ms. Toscano focuses on commercial litigation, white collar criminal defense and corporate internal investigations.  They are both experienced trial attorneys who have tried multiple cases to verdict.

Patricia M. Prezioso, Member of the Firm; Co-Chair, Employment and Labor Practice
As a seasoned litigator and trial attorney who conducts trials to verdict, Ms. Prezioso is skilled in defending companies and management in all types of employment claims.  She 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 extensive experience in matters involving restrictive covenants, government or administrative agency investigations, including before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), 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.

Ms. Prezioso’s experience in the public sector has provided her with unique investigative and prosecutorial insight that she applies to counseling and, when necessary, defending her clients.  Before entering private practice, she worked for the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office – Division of Criminal Justice, serving as Chief of Law Enforcement Services, Deputy Director and Executive Assistant Attorney General.  She was the lead prosecutor in State v. McGuire, one of New Jersey’s most infamous murder trials.  She also 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.  She was honored by the State of New Jersey and the New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety with “Professional Achievement” awards and received the “Innovation in Government” award from the National Council of State Governments.  Ms. Prezioso frequently speaks on trial advocacy, trial preparation, discovery and investigations, and has been featured in news specials on ABC, NBC, CBS and the Discovery Channel.

Mary E. Toscano, Member of the Firm
An experienced litigator, Ms. Toscano concentrates her practice on defending individuals and companies who are the focus of white collar criminal investigations and RICO actions.  Her experience includes all aspects of litigation including, investigation, pre-trial motions, plea-negotiations, trial and post-trial proceedings.  She has tried multiple cases to verdict.

Prior to joining the Firm, Ms. Toscano 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 diverse caseload included white collar crimes, tax fraud, wire and mail fraud, money laundering and complex RICO matters, among others.  During her tenure as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, she held a number of other supervisory roles, including supervising the unit in which new Assistant U.S. Attorneys were trained to be federal prosecutors in the District of New Jersey.  She received the Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Management in 2020 and the Honorable Patty Shwartz Leadership Award in 2018.  In October 2019, Mayor Ras Baraka recognized Ms. Toscano for her impact on the City of Newark by making it a safer community through the reduction of violent crime.  Previously, she served as an Honors Program trial attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice and an appellate court attorney in the Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court.

“We are pleased that two such distinguished and highly experienced trial attorneys have chosen to join Sills Cummis,” stated Managing Partner Max Crane.  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.”