Stroock Adds D.C. Lateral to Executive Committee

Stroock & Stroock & Lavan announced Tuesday that it hired a team of real estate attorneys from DLA Piper including Jeffrey R. Keitelman, who will be co-chair of its real estate practice group, co-managing partner of its Washington, D.C. office and also will join its executive committee.

Keitelman joinedwith a team of seven attorneys, including partner Kim Pagotto in Washington, partner Marc Hurel in New York and counsels Richard Cohn, Jonathan A. Cohen and Joseph F. Miller, special counsel Hala M. Sibay, and associate Kelly Booker.

He described their work as a multifaceted transactional real estate practice, representing investors and others with acquisitions and dispositions, joint ventures, financings and other works. But he also represents Fortune 500 companies, including Verizon and Cisco Systems on complex and run-of-the-mill leases throughout the country. Lastly, the group has a government affairs practice, representing people who lease real estate to the government.

The past week was a whirlwind: On Wednesday, Keitelman said the team notified on DLA Piper that it was moving, and on Friday the move to Stroock happened. That meant most of his holiday weekend was devoted to moving. “I’ve been doing this for 29 years, so I have 29 years of stuff to move,” he said.

[Image “Keitelman” (src=https://bol.bna.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Keitelman.jpg)]

In an interview with Big Law Business, Keitelman explained why he chose to move from DLA Piper, which has 1,400 lawyers in the U.S. plus thousands in other countries, to Stroock, which has less than 400 lawyers, and his plans to help Stroock build a national real estate practice. Below is a lightly edited transcript of the conversation.

Big Law Business: Why did you jump to Stroock?

Keitelman: I had worked on a couple deals with them, and the people were really good but they were also really nice. Sometimes, that gets lost. This is a firm that’s 140 years old and it has a culture that’s stayed with it for 140 years. That was appealing to me.

I came from a huge firm that was I think 4,500 lawyers in more than 70 offices in 30 countries. In this office, there were nine lawyers and now there are 16, plus one in New York. I love to build things and this firm provides the opportunity to build something.

Big Law Business: Since you’re on the executive committee, what are the growth plans for the firm?

Keitelman: They want to continue to grow but they don’t want to get huge. It does not have a goal to become a large law firm. There are firms that have thousands of lawyers and this firm does not aspire to be that because it knows you gain a lot of things and you lose a lot of things.

Big Law Business: Is there less pressure on your billing rates at Stroock?

Keitelman: I don’t think it’s always true. It’s not that the small firms always charge lower rates. I think a smaller firm provides a flexibility to charge smaller rates. It’s more that I’m able to think about what the right rate is and be there. It’s more long-term view, versus short-term view. The firm is trying to build and wants its clients to stay with them for eternity, and so it understands that to do that, you have to help them out sometimes.