has become one of New York’s most prominent real estate law firms. On January 3, 2000, starting from scratch, Adam Leitman Bailey opened the doors to the firm bearing his name. Bartering a small law office in exchange for providing legal services for his landlord, Bailey pledged to become the best law firm in New York 1) by only taking on business where he believed he was possibly the best lawyer
for the case or deal and 2) by creating a level of client service surpassing that of all other law firms. Less than a year after opening its doors, Bailey’s firm hired its first employee, Nancy Fernandez, who today is the firm’s Chief Paralegal. One year later, John Desiderio joined the firm as counsel, thus moving the institution from a man with a desk to a law firm with a multi-talented staff. While keeping the focus on getting results for its clients, Bailey’s firm continued recruiting talented attorneys for its expanding practice. Bailey realized that the only way to realize his dream of having New York’s best law firm would be to hire New York’s most talented real estate attorneys. In addition, although many of these attorneys previously performed many legal tasks, at Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. they were asked to only practice the type of law where they were renowned for their talents, whether their exceptional skill be trying cases, writing briefs, performing closings, drafting commercial leases or overseeing corporate governance. attorneys all adopted Bailey’s original client service policies — notably returning every telephone call within 24 hours and utilizing computerized systems tracking the status of every case and matter, so that the status could be shared with clients upon every new occurrence. Fortunately, the firm grew and the greatness that was now second nature to its established attorneys and staff readily spread to the younger associates and newly minted partners. With these expansions, the Bailey firm acquired the ability to find numerous ways to economize on behalf of its clients — consigning routine tasks to support staff, having simpler legal work performed by younger associates, and reserving direct partner-level participation for those tasks calling for that level of skill and experience. Under these philosophies providing the highest possible legal service at the most reasonable possible cost, sixteen years later the firm has expanded to 23 attorneys and 34 employees including some of the most renowned names in the industry.
