Finkelsteins keep it all in the family.As if often the case with New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of business dynasties, the father-son law team of Daniel and Robert Finkelstein has real estate in its blood. By his own admission, the older Finkelstein, who is about to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his admission to the Bar, would have loved to become a building owner had circumstances not gotten in his way. "My parents owned several buildings in Harlem and when I was as young as 15 I was helping them collect the rents," Daniel Finkelstein explains. "My father was [one of those small landlords] who would just do whatever needed to be done [at the building]. And I had hoped to become an owner/ manager myself, but it wasn't meant to be." Instead, at the age of 17, Finkelstein joined the Army, hoping to see the world and avoid having to finish his high school degree. "I hated going to classes, so I thought the Army was a good way out of that," he laughs. "Of course, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. typical Army logic, they stationed me in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. for the duration of my term and sent me to take classes at the University of Delaware [3] The student body at the University of Delaware is largely an undergraduate population. Delaware students have a great deal of access to work and internship opportunities. ." By the time Finkelstein came back to New York, the real estate values in Harlem were declining and he realized that he wasn't cut out to be a building manager anyway. Unlike his father, Finkelstein wouldn't be able to take care of necessary repairs because of a small handicap--one of the fingers on his hand does not move properly. Instead, he took on a variety of government jobs, all having to do with real estate, while his days were devoted to preparing the groundwork for public improvement sites, his nights were spent attending law school and taking care of his new family. However, when Finkelstein got his first job in his chosen field, being a real estate lawyer wasn't the kind of rewarding experience it is today. "The only work I could get in the beginning was the kind of work other lawyers wouldn't want to do--rent collection, tenant disputes," he recalls. "And then in 1972, when the Housing Court was created, they stopped the courtesy of sending all of your cases to one judge. I spent my days running around town from one place to another. So I started hiring more lawyers to help me." Eventually, Finkelstein's new enterprise became one of New York's largest real estate law firms This list of the world's largest law firms by revenue is taken from The Lawyer and The American Lawyer and is ordered by 2006 revenue:[1]
About his own decision to follow in his father's footsteps, Robert Finkelstein bears no illusions. "Being a teenager, I didn't know what I wanted to do and my parents didn't push me," he explains. "I went to college and majored in business, but I didn't want to enter the workforce yet, so I decided to enter law school." Robert says he took great pains not to take advantage of his father's name as a lawyer. When he was applying to graduate programs, he had his heart set on Brooklyn Law School History The school was founded in 1901 by William Payson Richardson and Norman Haffey. It opened with 18 students. The school is noted for its diversity. Photographs indicate that by 1909, African Americans and women attended the school. The school was affiliated with St. , his father's alma mater ma·ter n. Chiefly British Mother. [Latin m  ter; see m , but didn't tell Daniel Finkelstein until he received
the acceptance letter.
He did prove, however, that he inherited inherited received by inheritance. inherited achondroplastic dwarfism see achondroplastic dwarfism. inherited combined immunodeficiency see combined immune deficiency syndrome (disease). his father's legal abilities. During his apprenticeship apprenticeship, system of learning a craft or trade from one who is engaged in it and of paying for the instruction by a given number of years of work. The practice was known in ancient Babylon, Egypt, Greece, and Rome, as well as in modern Europe and to some extent with Finkelstein, Borah, Robert was trusted with some of the most important cases. After meeting a former colleague in court one day, Robert Finkelstein decided to leave his father's firm, then, in April of 1994, Robert and his co-worker and friend, Jonathan Newman, opened their own firm, Finkelstein Newman. This firm, like Finkelstein, Borah before it, specialized spe·cial·ize v. spe·cial·ized, spe·cial·iz·ing, spe·cial·iz·es v.intr. 1. To pursue a special activity, occupation, or field of study. 2. in landlord tenant law, so Daniel Finkelstein decided to join it. "He said he came here because he wanted to take care of me," Robert Finkelstein laughs. "But because he has been around forever and because he has so much experience, everyone comes for help to him." "We are an active bunch," his father explains. A former candidate for City Council and State Senate and a member of various civic and professional organizations, at 77 Daniel Finkelstein still teaches at New York Law School History New York Law School is one of the oldest independent law schools in the United States. The Law School was founded in 1891 by a group of faculty, students, and alumni of Columbia Law School led by their founding dean, Theodore William Dwight, a prominent figure in the and edits a monthly law newsletter. "You know the textbook Landlord and Tenant Practice in New York?" he asks proudly. "That was written by me." |
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