One of New York City’s most prominent real estate law firms is going out of business.
Stroock & Stroock & Lavan will be dissolved, according to Bloomberg Law. The law firm’s dissolution, prompted by a staff exodus, was first reported by The American Lawyer.
In an effort to survive, Stroock engaged in merger talks with Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw & Pittman. When the companies announced Monday those talks were off, however, the writing was on the wall for Stroock, which has been in business since 1876.
Things started to fall apart for Stroock more than a year ago when more than 40 bankruptcy lawyers fled for Paul Hastings, decimating the non-real estate practices of the firm. About 30 partners from the real estate practice are now on their way to Hogan Lovells.
Merger talks were also held with Steptoe & Johnson, McGuireWoods, Squire Patton Boggs and Nixon Peabody. None of those deals could be consummated, though, with Stroock’s pension obligations causing complications.
Stroock’s demise is a blow to New York’s real estate industry. Last month, The Real Deal ranked the top law firms in the city by the dollar amount of the more than 42,000 commercial and residential property transactions in the city recorded from last August to this July. Stroock had only 26 deals, far fewer than many other firms on the list, but the dollar amount of $726 million was good for a No. 8 ranking.
Aside from handling property sales, Stroock was on retainer by the Real Estate Board of New York. A partner, Trevor Adler, served as a judge for the trade group’s Retail Deal of the Year Awards in 2022 and another Stroock partner, Claude Szyfer, represented REBNY in a recent dispute with Compass over recruiting.
Stroock’s collapse will open up more space in the vacancy-plagued Manhattan office market. The law firm occupies 193,000 square feet at 180 Maiden Lane near the South Street Seaport, according to the Commercial Observer.
The Financial District building, which got a $372 million loan package just before the pandemic, is owned by Clarion Partners, LaSalle Investment Management and principals of the former MHP Real Estate Services.
Correction: An earlier version of this story omitted principals of the former MHP Real Estate Services and included Banyan Street Capital as an owner of 180 Maiden Lane. The latter provides property and asset management services for the building.
— Holden Walter-Warner
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