Biglaw

Lawyerly Lairs: A Pioneering Cravath Partner's $8 Million Aerie

Christine Beshar was Cravath's first woman partner -- and also very, very rich.

By  
on

Christine Beshar

If you’re not familiar with the inspiring story of Christine Beshar, you should be. She was the first woman partner at the venerable firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore, as well as one of the first women partners at any Biglaw firm.

An immigrant from Germany, Beshar first began working in the law firm world as a switchboard operator (millennials, Google it). She later worked for a different law firm as a librarian, before making the jump to lawyer.

Where did Beshar go to law school? Sorry, trick question — she didn’t. After “reading for the bar” (i.e., apprenticing) for a few years, she took the New York bar exam in 1959 and passed on her first try.

Beshar joined Cravath in 1964 and made partner seven years later, in 1971. Being the first woman partner at Cravath, and one of the first female partners in Biglaw generally, wasn’t easy. But Beshar pushed for changes to make it easier for the women who would follow in her footsteps, as recounted in her New York Times obituary:

Almost 20 years [after making partner,] she pushed Cravath to become the first major New York firm to open its own child-care center for its working parents, an idea she had proposed. It began in 1989, after the firm had moved to midtown Manhattan from downtown, as an on-site backup service available to employees when other child-care arrangements fell through.

Mrs. Beshar’s proposal had been born of necessity. She had taken only a week or two of vacation time after the birth of each of her children, and one day her son’s babysitter failed to show up.

As reflected in her efforts to improve Cravath as a workplace, Beshar was very devoted to the firm. She practiced trust and estates law at Cravath for decades, right up until her passing. (Although she retired from the partnership in 1999, she continued to advise clients on T&E issues as senior counsel.)

Sponsored

Beshar passed away in January, at the age of 88, and a few years after her husband Robert, who passed away in 2014. (Speaking of Cravath partners passing away, note the update to this post — yes, there’s a special partner procession or walk, but there’s no ritual chant.)

120 East End Avenue

This brings us to today’s Lawyerly Lair. Christine and Robert Beshar raised their four children in a magnificent, 14-room apartment at 120 East End Avenue, one of New York City’s finest co-ops (and one of Tom Wolfe’s so-called “good buildings”). But now that both Beshars have passed away, the Beshar estate is selling the residence.

And what a residence it is! Per the New York Times:

The apartment, which offers striking park and river vistas from its many floor-to-ceiling windows, is roughly 5,250 square feet, with five bedrooms and six and a half baths.

The unit has a private elevator landing that opens to a stately gallery with a black-and-white checkered floor and a powder room.

Sponsored

Super-broker Serena Boardman, of Sotheby’s International Realty (of course), told the Times in March that the asking price would be $8.95 million. But if you look at the current version of the listing, you’ll see that it’s now on the market for $7.95 million. What a bargain!

(In case you couldn’t tell, that was tongue in cheek. Given the softness in the Manhattan market, especially in the $3 million and up segment, major markdowns are quite common. Also keep in mind that the Beshar apartment comes with monthly maintenance charges of $10,485, plus real estate taxes.)

Whether it’s worth $8 million or $7 million or $6 million, it’s an absolutely gorgeous apartment. Let’s take a look around, shall we?

1 2 3 4Next »

Topics

, , , , , , , , , ,