The Brandt, Fisher, Alward & Pezzetti law firm, first founded in Traverse City in 1997, is splitting up and its attorneys have announced new ventures.

Donald Brandt, Matthew Vermetten, Gary Popovits and Tom Pezzetti have formed Brandt, Pezzetti, Vermetten & Popovits, PC, and will be located in the Plante Moran building (across from West Bay Beach) in Traverse City effective Jan. 1, 2014.

Brandt says while the split is "a somewhat bittersweet moment," the decision was made to form a firm focused solely on its many business, banking and real estate clients. "We are very excited to be a smaller firm with no distractions that inevitably come with a larger, more diverse firm," says Brandt.

Attorneys Tom Alward, Joe Fisher, Jill Rice, David Rowe and Nicole Graf are opening Alward, Fisher, Rice, Rowe & Graf, PLC on Dec. 30 at the City Centre building located at 202 E. State Street in Traverse City. Priscilla Hirt has also joined the firm and brings more than 20 years of estate planning expertise to the group.