#Newly split legal duo Cellino & Barnes to open new firms within a few months

Broken-up legal duo Cellino & Barnes said their new and separate law firms would be open within the next few months, after The Post exclusively reported they finalized their divorce Monday.

The Buffalo personal injury lawyers Ross Cellino Jr. and Stephen Barnes — whose firm had the ear-worm jingle “Don’t wait! Call 8!” — said in a joint statement, “For nearly 30 years, Ross Cellino and Steve Barnes built one of the most successful personal injury firms in New York State, focusing on achieving the best possible results for each client.

“Today Ross and Steve have agreed to part ways, and form two separate firms – Cellino Law and The Barnes Firm. Both firms will be up and running within the next few months. Until that time, all Cellino & Barnes clients will continue to be fully represented by the firm.”

Cellino sued Barnes in 2017 seeking to dissolve the law firm, a move Barnes opposed until January as their messy split played out in court for over three years — inspiring the creation of off-Broadway play “Cellino v. Barnes” in Brooklyn.

Cellino — that’s the one with more hair — said in court papers that Barnes once yelled at him, “Why the f–k would you want to f–k this up when you are making $10 million a year?!”

The terms of the settlement are confidential.

Now there will be a “solicitation period” when the law firm’s roughly 60 attorneys will decide whether to work under Cellino or Barnes. And it will be entirely up to the clients which new firm they choose to take over their cases, a source familiar with the matter told The Post.

As for the easy-to-remember (800)-888-8888 hotline, the number was expected to be “put in mothballs” for over a year until the pair can workout if one of their firms will take the number, sell it off to another company entirely or continue to keep it on ice, Buffalo News reported in March.

Commercials featuring the old firm will cease when the new firms are up and running, the source told The Post.