Elise G. Liebowitz

Elise Leibowitz is an over-priced real estate attorney who does a mediocre job and has a pretty poor style. She doesn't listen very well. After I hired her to review my company's lease, I briefed her by phone. I'm pretty sure she didn't take notes, because throughout the lease negotiation, she kept i...gnoring the items of most concern to me while bringing up things that were of little consequence. Despite my asking her for a fee estimate, I never got one. Worst of all, she really angered my landlord's attorney by revealing information that my broker was still negotiating with the LL's broker. This resulted in a late night phone call from my broker saying the LL insisted that I signed the lease, as is, the next morning or I would lose the space. The LL said, "That attorney of yours is a piece of work. It makes me wonder what kind of tenant you'd be." When the bill came, it was about 1/3 higher than I felt was fair for the work she had done. (It was a $12,000 bill; I told her I wanted to pay $8,000.) She denied that she had done anything to jeopardize the deal and would only reduce her fee by $275. There are a lot of real estate lawyers in this city. No need to waste your time (and money) with her.

Elise Liebowitz was very competent and supportive when I bought my co-op apartment last year. She walked me through the somewhat complicated buying process, gave me very good advice how to vet the apartment and the co-op itself before signing, and answered all of my questions quickly and thoroughly.... I would highly recommend her services to a potential buyer.