Mergers create one law firm, many specialties.
At law firms, attorneys frequently discuss “legal matters,” a term that can be used to describe everything from matrimonial to commercial law, real estate to trusts and estates. It’s a common phrase, but one that Abrams Fensterman Managing Partner Howard Fensterman discourages his firm’s attorneys from using. It’s a clinical, even impersonal, description of cases that are often crucial to people’s lives.
“Many young lawyers view cases they handle as ‘matters.’ They handle this ‘matter’ and that ‘matter,’” Fensterman says. “I emphasize that behind that ‘matter’ are human beings relying on us for our expertise.”
From matrimonial cases, with lives in turmoil, to partnership disputes where multiple partners try to resolve issues related to a business they built, from guardianship to white-collar defense, Abrams Fensterman has built a reputation as an effective advocate, providing a personal approach.
“The credos of the firm are quality and passion for what you do and compassion for the people you represent,” Fensterman continues. “You need to be compassionate to understand what people are going through emotionally. You do that by staying in touch with them and listening to them. It’s not just the application of the law. It’s your duty, in my view, to demonstrate compassion. Thoroughness and quality are critically important. You must turn over every leaf to help your client.”
SPECIALTIES AND SYNERGIES
In a region with small, mid-sized and large firms, Abrams Fensterman has grown to be among the biggest, with 117 attorneys and 250 people in total. In addition to a large presence in its headquarters in Lake Success, it is the largest law firm in Brooklyn with additional offices in White Plains , Rochester, and Albany.
The firm not only offers breadth of services, but depth of expertise in commercial litigation, healthcare, appeals, employment law, white-collar crime, guardianship law, mental health law, transportation law, matrimonial, and more. Its transportation practice is managed by Ethan Gerber, who is a visionary leader of the most distinguished and distinctive transportation legal practice in the industry. Abrams Fensterman manages the largest yellow cab and black car practice in the state, representing fleets, out of the Brooklyn office.
In the world of matrimonial law, RoseAnn Branda stands as a beacon of excellence, whose dedication to her clients and mastery of her craft have set the standard for legal practice in New York State. Abrams Fensterman also has the largest nursing home practice in the state, as well as a big commercial litigation practice all in addition to deep roots in healthcare.
Well known for its healthcare roots, from nursing homes to hospitals, Medicare to medical practices, fraud to mental health and regulatory, that’s only part of what today is a much bigger, broader picture. The firm has handled precedent-setting, high-profile, and a long list of cases, settling and at trial. The result of a 2000 merger, Abrams Fensterman is nearly 25 years old, with a roster of attorneys able to handle a vast spectrum of legal needs.
In the ever-evolving landscape of healthcare law in New York State, one name stands out as the paragon of expertise and influence: Patrick Formato. With a career spanning decades and a reputation built on unparalleled dedication and insight, Formato has rightfully earned his place as the preeminent healthcare attorney in the state while Carolyn Reinach Wolf holds the esteemed title of the Dean of the Mental Health Care bar. She possesses a rare combination of legal expertise, clinical insight, and empathy, allowing her to navigate the intricacies of mental healthcare law with unparalleled sensitivity and effectiveness. The firm boasts a distinguished executive leadership team, each excelling in distinct practice areas, whose profiles can be explored at abramslaw.com
“We have the financial wherewithal to bring more to the table for clients,” Fensterman says. “Most folks and clients would prefer to have all their needs met under one roof. Abrams Fensterman has been able to accomplish that.”
COURTING ATTORNEYS
Abrams Fensterman’s attorneys include a long list of former high-ranking government officials, judges, and experts. Fensterman is former chair of the Nassau Industrial Development Agency and a former member of the New York State Public Health and Planning Council. Robert Abrams literally wrote the book, the most commonly used textbook, on New York State guardianship. The White Plains office includes David Imamura, a Westchester County legislator and former head of the redistricting committee appointed by Gov. Kathy Hochul. Dan Alter, in White Plains, is former Department of Financial Services general counsel. Michael Bass, in Albany, is former New York State Department of Health general counsel. It is bipartisan with former high-ranking officials from both parties, such as Frank Carone, of counsel, Mayor Eric Adams’ former chief of staff.
The firm includes judges who bring experience, expertise and the knowledge that goes with that position, including former Appellate Division Justices Robert Spolzino and Jeffrey Cohen. Executive Partner Robert Spolzino during his tenure with the courts decided more than 4,000 appeals and 10,000 appellate motions and wrote major opinions across a broad spectrum of areas.
The practice also includes two former court of appeals clerks. Fensterman is one of the vice chairmen of the judicial screening committee of the Democratic Party of Nassau County. When Steven Eisman joined in 2000, he was vice chairman of the Republican Party of Nassau County. Tom Alfano, a Republican and one of the vice chairmen of the Nassau County Republican Party, is a former state assemblymember and former chairman of the Town of Hempstead Public Employees Relations Board and is of counsel to the firm.
“The advantage to everyone who joined us is, they are able to offer their clients so much more than they could in a smaller operation with limited specialties,” Fensterman says. “It involves multiple disciplines of the law. One of the objectives of Abrams Fensterman is to ensure we have a multidisciplinary practice, so we can fully service all our clients.
Howard Fensterman graduated from Georgetown Law School and practiced in Maryland for a year and a half, before moving to New York on Aug. 8, 1980. “I always wanted to be an advocate in a courtroom,” he says. “I enjoyed advocacy from watching television shows when I was younger.”
He married Lori, to whom he credits his success for her unconditional dedication and the sage counsel she provided him since the beginning of his career. They have four children: Jordan, Samantha, Staci and Alex, and five grandchildren. He moved to New York and on Aug. 11, 1980, starting as an associate in a law firm in Great Neck that ran into financial problems. He ran an ad in the New York Law Journal, saying, “Attorney seeks space and secretarial in exchange for services.”
He signed a space for services arrangement, providing 10 hours of legal work weekly in return for office space and 10 hours of secretarial service. He soon began bringing in enough business to launch his own practice, paying rent and hiring a secretary as he opened as sole practitioner on May 3, 1982. “After two months, I was busy enough to sustain my sole practitioner practice,” he says. “I went to everyone I knew, including relatives, and I asked them to send me business and they did.”
Fensterman started as a general practitioner, doing matrimonial, real estate, corporate law and “anything I could get my hands on.” “I would educate myself on how to do it. And I did it,” he says. “I had to support my family and I took great pride in doing quality work.”
He brought a negligence case in late 1982 involving a tugboat engineer who had to jump into Hempstead Harbor after an engine exploded, settling in 1983 for a seven-figure sum against the tugboat company, earning $100,000. “That helped me catapult myself,” he said. “I was able to take that money and invest in my practice.”
His younger brother Robert Fensterman joined the firm in August of 1984 (his son Jordan, who was three months old at the time, is now a partner at the law firm). “I was blessed that many friends I made were in family businesses. They introduced me to their fathers, who were running their businesses,” he says. “They were amenable to giving me an opportunity to prove myself.”
He did commercial collections on contingency and soon became those companies’ corporate lawyers. On Jan. 1, 2000, Robert Abrams and his 10-person firm merged with Fensterman’s three-person firm, creating Abrams Fensterman, specializing in guardianship, nursing homes, matrimonial, real estate and corporate.
“We doubled collective revenues in one year,” says Fensterman, who became managing partner. “Collectively, we were much stronger. We expanded the services we were rendering. And the collective chemistry between the two enterprises led to bigger results.”
Fensterman launched the merged firm with a case that acquired national publicity, as the first time in the nation where a civil lawsuit for wrongful death was filed , against a man who killed his parents. He represented the younger brother and their estate in Brown versus Brown. “I decided I would use the civil discovery process to obtain information, which would in turn help the district attorney, ultimately bringing criminal charges,” Fensterman says.
John Miller, 20/20 co-host with Barbara Walters, covered the case, which reached the show’s 18 million viewers. “After that show, things started to move relatively fast,” Fensterman says of the case.
The firm opened in Rochester in 2009, Brooklyn in 2010, White Plains in 2019, Albany in 2021 and is eyeing Washington, D.C., and, possibly, Florida. The executive committee includes Robert Abrams, Patrick Formato, Carolyn Reinach Wolf, RoseAnn Branda, Ethan Gerber, Robert Spolzino, and Howard Fensterman . And the firm continues to grow through synergies, mergers, and service.
“Our goal is to continue to expand the law firm, possibly into other practice areas,” Fensterman says. “And continue to do what we’ve been doing, putting out quality work.”
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