“He doesn’t give up, that tenacity to say no matter what it says, I’m going to find a path to Victory. That is something that is rare. I think if he would have lived a long time ago, he would have been Caesar in an army because he doesn’t give up, he’s the only one I would recommend.”
“My name is Marius Fortelni. I’m a real estate developer. I’ve developed properties in New York but mainly now develop in Florida, Palm Beach County, as the market there is really good and a lot of New Yorkers are moving down to Florida. I was the president of a building, 3 East 78th Street. I bought the apartment when Soford took it from a rental to a condominium in the late 80s. Loved the building, it is truly one of the most magnificent Brownstone buildings. It’s a limestone building. The architect is a very famous architect, CPH Gilbert. He did entire blocks and it’s 30 foot wide — 35 feet wide — with gargoyles, I mean it’s an amazing building with an amazing history. And so right next to us is NYU and when the sponsor converted the building from rentals to condominiums, they wrote up a text that basically gave NYU every possibility to enter the building, to open the building, to use the basement space and the first floor, and we really had no outs. So we discussed this with several law firms and they said “look you’re wasting your time. The language is written in such a way that it gives them all the rights.” And then through a friend of mine he said “you know what there’s one law firm that probably can help you even though your case seems to be hopeless and that’s Adam Leitman Bailey,” and that’s how I got to him. In every field, doesn’t matter what field, you find one two or three people that are brilliant and Adam is brilliant and he doesn’t take the normal approach he takes a totally different approach because when we read the text together, the text that gave NYU all the rights was a hundred percent there was no loophole in there because that’s how they wrote it but Adam took a very different approach in our conversations and said “look, this is a landmark building, and an original is only original if it’s an original.” And he came up with the example of if you go to a classic car auction, and there’s a really famous car that is worth a lot of money, but if a couple of pieces have been replaced with new pieces it’s not a classic car anymore. Only a classic car, only the original, is an original and he used that in front of court in front of landmarks to drive home the point that if they start breaking breaking breaking open the side of the building in order to get into the basement we would have given up all the rights of course because we don’t know who enters the basement then. But besides that the building would have lost its originality and it’s a very famous and really special building and that’s how he approached the case. NYU had rights to our basement which was quite large, about four thousand feet and two parts of the first floor, and they wanted to to create a direct entrance through the side of the building, open up the side of the basement wall, and create a direct access from NYU, which is the next to us, into our building the second entrance so to speak so that their students could flow in and out of our building freely. Obviously that would have given us the loss of control who enters the building as well as you know the building would not have been the same it would not have been original anymore. Hopeless, they’re one of those moments where we thought I read that text several times we took it to several attorneys and they gave us the exactly the same explanation, “the text is what it is,” it’s written to make sure any and possible loopholes are eliminated and it said that NYU will be able to do this. And so we thought we really have no chance until I finally talked with Adam and he took a totally different approach well he took a different approach by saying “you know what this text gives them the right but it doesn’t give them the right to basically destroy a landmark building,” and it was a pretty simple and powerful approach. And he took examples of how why we have landmarks why a building like that cannot just be altered regardless of what our agreement said and that really was very powerful arguments in front of landmarks and they said “no you can’t do this.” Adam is brilliant. Adam thinks outside the box. Adam doesn’t give up; he goes to war for you. He takes the case and really you’ve hired somebody who’s going to take it all the way through. He’s one of the most impressive individuals I’ve ever met, and I’ve had lawsuits in Europe, I’m European, I’ve had lawsuits in Paris and in Vienna and obviously in the Hamptons, but Adam is extraordinary in every way. Honestly, I don’t think he has any weaknesses. You know, I think that man is made to do what he’s supposed to do, and he’s just set apart. There’s a Tiger Woods, there’s always some people in some fields, in sports, whatever it is, that are extraordinary, and Adam, if you were a golfer you would be Tiger Woods. I said I think he really gets into the case, thinks outside the box, finds a path no matter what, does not give up, has a tenacity that is amazing. I think he doesn’t sleep at night because I think he works seven days a week, 24/7 for you, and if you ever have a case, he’s the only one that I would hire again. If you really have a difficult case, any case really, you want to make sure that you’re on the winning side, and the way Adam approaches any kind of deals that I’ve seen, any kind of agreements, he finds a path. He doesn’t give up, that tenacity to say no matter what it says, I’m going to find a path to Victory. That is something that is rare. I think if he would have lived a long time ago, he would have been Caesar in an army because he doesn’t give up, he’s the only one I would recommend.”