Ex-Kasowitz Partner Alleges Firm Lied About Finances

A former partner at one of real estate’s most well-known law firms is accusing the top litigator of lying about the company’s financial health and withholding millions in wages.

Eric Herschmann, who left Kasowitz LLP this year, filed a lawsuit this week in New York State Supreme Court. In the complaint previously reported by Bloomberg Law, Herschmann alleges he is owed millions in unpaid wages due to Kasowitz’s mismanagement of the company, which caused profits to collapse.

Kasowitz allegedly “secretly saddle[d] the firm with huge amounts of debt to pay partner distributions,” according to the lawsuit. Furthermore, Herschmann claims Kasowitz breached his fiduciary duties.

In addition to unpaid wages, Herschmann is calling for “an accounting of the firm’s secretive finances.” He did not respond to the publication’s request for comment.

In a statement to The Real Deal, a spokesperson for Kasowitz LLP said the lawsuit was “a false document filled with inaccuracies and misstatements of fact.”

“For 30 years, Mr. Herschmann was paid extraordinarily well for relatively few billable hours and small amounts of business,” the spokesperson added.

Herschmann was a partner at the firm, long known as Kasowitz Benson Torres, from 1996 to 2020, when he departed to serve as a senior adviser in President Donald Trump’s first term. He previously served on Trump’s legal team during the president’s first impeachment trial.

After leaving the White House, Herschmann was lured back to his old firm after learning from Kasowitz that the company was “financially healthy and successful,” according to the lawsuit. He was allegedly promised a role that would drive “approximately $10 million per year in business.”

This year, Herschmann and two other ex-partners at Kasowitz — including one of the namesakes of the firm’s former moniker — launched Herschmann Benson Bowen. Other departures from Kasowitz’s firm this year include a pair of partners who left in March and a significant litigator who moved on in June.

Kasowitz rebranded in June to remove the names of a pair of former partners.

The firm dates back to 1993 and counts industry heavyweights, including SL Green, JDS Development, JLL and Related Companies, along with characters like former Douglas Elliman chairman Howard Lorber and billionaire developer Ben Ashkenazy.

In 2023, Kasowitz was named Practice Group of the Year for Real Estate by Law360.

— Holden Walter-Warner