When lawyers split...

[samhexum]

Breaking up is hard to do. 

Ross Cellino Jr. — sole surviving partner of famed, defunct Cellino & Barnes personal injury law firm – plans on snagging tickets to the resurrected eponymous play about his whirlwind breakup with ex-partner Steve Barnes, but told The Post if he could do it all over again, he would’ve kept the pair together. 

“We should’ve stayed together. I wish we had both set aside our strong feelings. I guess I got stubborn in my position and he did too,” the 65-year-old attorney revealed to The Post in a phone interview. 

“In hindsight, I remember Steve came to my house during the litigation and he said, ‘Ross why don’t we work this out? I said, ‘OK.’ But it didn’t work out like that,”

“I wish things could’ve worked out. I do, too, but that’s ancient history now,” said Steve’s older brother Rich Barnes, 67.

Steve Barnes tragically died in October 2020 at age 61 after the plane he was piloting crashed in upstate New York.

His niece and Rich Barnes’ daughter, 32-year-old Elizabeth, was also killed.

A drama detailing the very public rise and split of Cellino & Barnes, which was cut short during the pandemic, opens Friday, April 14 at an 80-seat, artist space located at 320 W. 23rd St. 

“Cellino v. Barnes,” which stars playwrights Mike Breen and David Rafailedes and was produced by Cameron Koffman and David Pochapin, runs through May 7. 

“I’m flattered they would even do that — to be featured in a play. Why would they waste their time with the two of us? We are just lawyers … usually people don’t have a play about lawyers,” Cellino told The Post.

The pair rose to stardom over the course of their nearly 30-year partnership that not only transformed the Buffalo-based family law firm that, at one point, employed over 300 attorneys in offices from New York to California, revolutionized the way attorneys attract clients via advertising and as a result, generated multi-millions in profits.

The catchy jingle “Don’t wait, call 8” and billboards plastered across the Empire State sent customers seeking legal help in droves — but it was the eventual divorce that was finalized just before Barnes died — that landed the Buffalo boys as the subject of an off-Broadway play.

“I introduced the two of them,” Rich Barnes recalled. 

“I knew Ross and I got to be friendly with his dad, who wanted to retire,” he said, adding that he worked down the hall from Ross Cellino Sr., who started the firm that eventually became Cellino & Barnes.

“My brother was working at a big firm in Buffalo and was not happy with it. They met and talked,” he said, recalling the duo’s 1992 introduction. The firm became C&B in 1995.

“When they first began with the advertising, there was substantial backlash because the establishment didn’t like the advertising. That slowly died down because the firm became so successful. Then, getting really tremendous results for their clients ended the criticism,” he said.

“I ended up joining the firm three or four years after because I saw how successful it was.”

Cellino recalled what he described as the beginning of the end with Barnes — also known as “the bald one” in the memorable television and print ads.

“Part of the fight between Steve and I was that Steve objected to my daughter [Gina Cellino] joining the firm.”

“She had already worked at two other law firms, but he was resolute and adamant about it: that she couldn’t work at the law firm.”

So Cellino made the first move in 2017, filing a lawsuit seeking to dissolve the firm — which Barnes fought, arguing the two could resolve differences in the business. 

Then Cellino was caught trying to poach attorneys in a bid to create a new firm, making the pitch that his surname was superior to his partner’s.

“No one ever calls their motorcycle a Davidson,” the attorney wrote in an email pitch, according to court papers filed at the time, drawing the ire of both Barnes and a state Supreme Court judge.

The conflict was eventually finalized in June 2020 – just before Barnes’ 2020 death, and the two men started their own, separate firms: Cellino Law Accident Attorneys and the Barnes Firm Injury Attorneys.

Per the settlement, they agreed to open separate firms and to share the famous “1-800-888-8888.” 

“Currently, if you ring today, see who you get. Today it could be Cellino or it could be Barnes,” Cellino said.

Rich Barnes said his brother would’ve gotten a kick out of the play.

“I think my brother, if he was still with us, would have a change of heart. He was a guy who could take a joke and tell a joke. He had a biting sense of humor having been a Marine Corps officer.

Cellino said he saw the pre-pandemic version of the play with his 84-year-old mother. 

“They turned that into a spoof — somehow that Gina was the love child between Steve and I. I don’t know how we birthed this child together. It was not true, but it was still funny.”

Rich Barnes said although he plans on going to the play, he stopped short of saying he’d attend with Cellino.

“We have a very cordial working relationship. Ross and I never had any personal animosity,” he told The Post.

Cellino's son graces a new billboard campaign

The conflict was eventually finalized in June 2020 – just before Barnes’ 2020 death.

 

https://nypost.com/2023/04/13/ross-cellino-on-infamous-cellino-barnes-law-firm-breakup/

 

       Y'all better rush to get your tickets!

[+ Lucky]

Yawn.