White Plains, NY According to National law firm Wilson Elser, Roy Smolarz has joined the firm’s White Plains office as of counsel. He also will be working from the firm’s Las Vegas office to serve his large Nevada-based client roster. Smolarz, a lawyer and CPA, brings to Wilson Elser more than 30 years of legal and investment banking experience representing large and middle-market public and private companies in the United States and Asia Pacific region, principally in the real estate, lodging and gaming sectors. He handles mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, due diligence, debt and equity placements and corporate advisory work. Prior to launching a career in investment banking, Smolarz was a practicing lawyer with a prominent New Jersey law firm where he focused on gaming, real estate and securities law. He also was senior vice president and leader of the gaming, hospitality, real estate investment banking practices at Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. and Gruntal & Co., both NYSE-listed firms. Additionally, Smolarz served as a managing director of Coopers & Lybrand Securities (now PriceWaterhouseCoopers) and director of corporate finance of Coopers & Lybrand, with a focus on real estate, mergers and acquisitions, due diligence and corporate internal controls assessments. He also was corporate vice president and counsel at PaineWebber Inc. (now UBS), principally responsible for real estate, hospitality and gaming due diligence and legal matters, and participated in financings in excess of $5 billion. Smolarz is a frequent speaker at real estate and gaming industry conferences sponsored by the Information Management Network and the American Bar Association. He has presented at annual meetings of the International Association of Gaming Attorneys and the ABA Subcommittees on Real Estate Partnerships, Hotels and Gaming. Smolarz graduated with high honors from Baruch College Zicklin School of Business with a B.B.A. degree and from Seton Hall University School of Law with a J.D. degree (1980). He is a Certified Public Accountant in New York and maintains his FINRA registration Series 7, 63 and 79 in New York, Nevada and California. Tags: