The Real Deal New York

From the December issue: If real estate brokers occasionally suffer from a bad rap, attorneys are surely afflicted with the same problem. But according to Joseph Ferrara, an attorney specializing in real estate and intellectual property for 28 years, those two professions can make a winning combination. That’s the idea behind Ferrarra’s New York Real Estate Advocates, a new residential brokerage group — with a tentative early 2010 launch date — that will be run by real estate attorneys, with licensed agents making the sales. “We’re trying to model it after a law office somewhat [and] we’re coming to the table with legal knowledge that other brokers don’t have,” Ferrara said. “Because we know real estate law, we know how to save [clients money] on transfer taxes, et cetera.”