Lawyerly Lairs: Personal Injury Edition
(Or: Finding million-dollar steals in Manhattan.)
When the economic meltdown started picking up steam last year, we were having brunch in the West Village with friends from the legal and financial worlds. One of the lawyers upset the financial folks at the table by rejoicing over the fall of Wall Street.
“Your massive salaries inflated the real estate market here. With financial folks being fired, Manhattan property prices will fall, and lawyers will be able to afford nicer places,” said the J.D. holder, who might not be as smug these days after the waves of law firm layoffs. Still, those words may well have been prophetic.
The Sunday New York Times just had a piece on Manhattan’s sinking housing prices, focusing on the real estate search of personal injury attorney Matthew Glassman and his wife. With their children out of the nest, they’re moving from a house in Long Island — which they sold for $1.61 million, a nice chunk of change — to a condo in Manhattan. They scored a place in Chelsea for less than a million dollars. From the Times:
It was sunny when they visited the Cheyney on West 23rd Street. A two-bedroom condo of around 1,150 square feet, it had two exposures, to the street and to a garden courtyard, but needed a complete renovation…. [T]hey focused on the good layout, with a hallway separating the bedrooms from the living room. There was a real second bedroom, not just a windowless office….And the price, which started at $1.45 million in September, was steadily falling. The Glassmans paid $998,000 and closed in February. The common charge and taxes are $1,667 a month.
Only six figures! But the condo is a little bit of a fixer-upper, requiring $100,000 more in renovations.
Perhaps Glassman hoped to help pay that bill with the business drummed up by the NYT article. As the tipster who sent it along to us noted:
Gotta love the PI attorney who wore a shirt with his website on it while being photographed by the NY Times.
Will it work? Due to the wife’s blocking the shirt, we were misled and went first to Glassmanlaw.com. We were initially surprised that a personal injury attorney would specialize in immigration law and fiancee visas. But then we found the right site, Mglassmanlaw.com. We like that “Animal Bites” has its own category.
The Suburban Transplants [New York Times]
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boring.
Proof that you can do well for yourself outside of Biglaw. This guy is probably earning more than many partners.
Is ATL's new business plan to just rely on the NY Times for material and link to their stories?
3 - It works for most of the political blogs.
Paying $1M for 1,150 square feet, while paying the equivalent of a reasonable mortgage in condo fees and taxes doesn't strike me as a good deal. I had a bigger place when I was a GS-14.
What are they going to do if the Texas guy with the 3500 square foot wife decides to visit?
What I like is that it looks like his shirt says "Assman law"
1. Google "lawyer."
2. Press "news" button.
3. Summarize story.
4. Pass off as "legal" news.
LOL, he is the assman
That's no woman, that's a man baby.
Don't declining RE values make it a good time to trade up, not down? If you're selling a big place and buying a small one, don't you lose more selling your old place than you gain buying the new one? I'm confused.
-- 3500 s/f wife named Lexis and a dogbite practttice
Glasscock?
The dog is whispering "if she was my wife I'd shave her ass and make her walk backwards" into his ear.
11- You rang? I am the former Thelen and current Orrick partner, the Glass Cock. I am not the Glassman, but in many ways I am an Ass Man. Ask the Ass ociates who work for me.
would honestly give someone my kidney if they will pay off my student loans. I have a major case of 3Litis.
5 years ago, this Top 14 LS degree would have virtually guaranteed me an upper-middle class lifestyle. I wanted to buy a well-insulated condo when this was all done. Now, I am going to have to keep renting. Keep fucking renting with that fat dumb bitch stomping around above me. She drives me fucking crazy stomping around all day and all night and now I have no money to make it stop.
"I'm Cosmo Kramer, the Assman!"
$1667 per month in common fees and taxes. That's another mortgage anywhere else in the United States.
I was thinking of something small, but not to small. Maybe granite counter tops and dark wood cabinets. I would have mounted the flat-screen television on the wall--because I knew that I would be staying a while--instead of having it sit on that stupid table I got off Craigslist.
I was going to invest in one of those ceiling mounted pots and pan hanging things. I think it would have given the place a really functional, but classy look. I would have purchased my first expensive rug, maybe a new wifi surround sound system.
I was really looking forward to telling the seller's Realtor that I am a lawyer, so I will be able to handle my own closing. I was hoping she would knock off some commission as a professional courtesy.
I was also looking forward to parking my car in a garage instead of on the street where all the idiots ding it up. Most condos in my city come with a garage. I wouldn't have bought a new car even with the salary that I was supposed to get. I like my old car and I know that it would not be prudent to make two big purchases in the same year. Now, I have nothing. My car probably won't make it much longer and I have to keep fucking renting. I hate my landlord to. Every time that I see her, she gives me this look like she is better than me because she is the landlord and I am the renter. I wanted to scream so loud at her that I am going to be a graduate of a Top 14 law school soon and that I am better than her--that I will be making 160 thousand dollars soon. Now, I will never make that much and I will always have to put a little note with my rent check, apologizing to her for being 3 days late. Whenever my brother asks me to dog sit his Malti-poo for the week, I will have to decline because of the stupid no pets policy.
wilmer news . . .
H1Bs took my job
Senior associate at Locke Lord Houston, 3500 sq ft, wife, and a Lexis.
Eat it.
I knew a Cheeseman, once. He was an attorney in Boston.
19 - Wilmer news:
http://abovethelaw.com/2009/04/nationwide_start_date_watch_wi_1.php
2- And for every guy like him, there are 500 PI attorneys looking to upgrade to a 1 BR in Brownsville
It's getting tougher to make a buck in PI. Defendants have less ability to pay and drivers are purchasing smaller insurance policies. Ins. co's are dragging cases out even longer than usual.
These people creep me out in so many ways.
Welcome to McDowell's own little castle
21 - I drive a Westlaw.
I'm not familiar with the NYC market, but a good chunk of that $1,667 a month is probably taxes. $10k - $15k of taxes on a $1.0 million purchase price would not be that out of line with many parts of the country, and some portion of the $1,667 is common charges.
If you didn't go to a top school and/or graduate at the top of your class, PI work is probably your best chance to strike it rich. One good case can set you up for years.
"Mr. Glassman is originally from New York having been raised on Long Island before moving to Florida. Upon graduation from the University of Florida (go gators), Mr. Glassman attended Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles. Mr. Glassman relocated back to the New York area in 1984 and worked as a litigator in several New Jersey firms before settling on a Port Jefferson location in 1988. He and his family live in Setauket."
http://mglassmanlaw.com/attorney-biography.html
I had a bigger place when I was an undergrad.
It's hard to make it in PI if you're not a bonfide trial lawyer... or an assman. Clearly, he's making it in PI
It's hard to make it in PI if you're not a bonfide trial lawyer... or an assman. Clearly, he's making it in PI
It's hard to make it in PI if you're not a bonfide trial lawyer... or an assman. Clearly, he's making it in PI