Marc Aronson

If you are living in a loft building which your landlord illegally converted from a factory, Mr. Aronson's retainer ($2,500) will buy you about one year of rent-free living. On the other hand, a more competent and interested attorney (as well as probably slightly more expensive) could keep you there... for much longer, although the services would probably cost a bit more. Basically, he knows all the judges and all the landlords in the Brooklyn Housing Court, and when your landlord finally moves to evict you, he negotiates a sort of standard settlement instead of investing real time or effort in your case. A worthwhile investment (we lived 13 months rent-free), but if we had it to do over again (and had a similarly unethical, slimy landlord), we would do better research and pay a better attorney to be more interested in our case.