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At a Glance
| Founded by | Ed Braverman in 1968, originally as Edward T. Braverman, P.C.; his son Robert J. Braverman, who joined in 1993, is now managing partner alongside principal Scott Greenspun (per the firm) |
| Focus | Cooperative and condominium law, real estate, and litigation for boards, shareholders, and unit owners (per the firm) |
| Office | 110 East 42nd Street, 17th Floor, New York, NY 10017 — the landmark 1923 Bowery Savings Bank Building (Midtown Manhattan) |
| Signature results | The combined firm represents more than 300 buildings across the tri-state area, including some of New York City’s most exclusive residential properties, following its February 2023 combination with Finder Novick Kerrigan (per the firm’s announcement) |
| Distinctive edge | Among the first New York firms to focus on cooperatives and condominiums, with more than half a century of continuous concentration in that field (per the firm) |
| Fee model | Not published on the firm’s site; prospective clients should confirm directly |
| Known for | Board general-counsel work, building governance, construction and access disputes, offering plans and sponsor matters, and co-op and condo litigation (per the firm) |
Origin and Background
When Ed Braverman opened his practice in 1968, cooperative housing law barely existed as a specialty; his firm was among the first in New York to build a practice around co-ops, condominiums, shareholders, and unit owners, per the firm’s own history. His son Robert J. Braverman joined in 1993 and, with principal Scott Greenspun, has led the firm through what it describes as exponential growth, culminating in the February 2023 combination with Finder Novick Kerrigan — a boutique that was instrumental in executing the wave of co-op conversions that swept New York City beginning in the 1980s, per independent coverage. The combined firm counsels more than 300 buildings in the tri-state area from offices in the landmark Bowery Savings Bank Building on East 42nd Street, an 18-story Italian Romanesque Revival tower completed in 1923.
What Makes This Firm Structurally Different
Braverman Greenspun’s concentration is generational rather than opportunistic: a single practice area held at the center of the firm for over five decades, now spanning both sides of building life — general counsel work for boards, and, per the firm’s own merger announcement, representation of unit owners in high-stakes conflicts with boards, along with insurers and other real-estate businesses. The 2023 additions deepened specific niches: partner Ben Flavin’s work with Housing Development Fund Corporations across the city, partner Thomas Kerrigan’s involvement in what the firm describes as seminal decisions in cooperative and condominium law, and later that year, attorneys with concentrations in building insurance disputes and sponsor-side offering plans, per the firm’s announcements.
Practice Areas
- Cooperative and condominium board general counsel
- Shareholder and unit-owner representation, including disputes with boards
- Building governance, house rules, and alteration and access agreements
- Construction defect and building litigation
- Offering plans, conversions, and sponsor matters
- Real estate transactions, leasing, and refinancing for buildings
Track Record
The firm’s measurable footprint is institutional: more than 300 buildings under representation across the tri-state area following the 2023 combination, per the firm’s announcement, and a body of reported appellate decisions in cooperative and condominium law that its listings cite, including Cohen v. Board of Managers of The 22 Perry Street Condominiums in the First Department. Awesome Attorneys did not independently audit the building count. Past results in any matter do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any future matter.
Client Voice
Awesome Attorneys did not identify a set of independently attributed, publicly posted client reviews for this firm as of the research date — a common pattern for institutional board-counsel practices, whose clients are buildings and boards rather than individual consumers who post reviews.
Beyond the Courtroom
Firm attorneys appear regularly in New York’s co-op and condo trade press, including Habitat Magazine’s coverage of building law, and attorney Jillian Menna serves as a mediation panel neutral for the Eastern District of New York, the Suffolk County Commercial Division, and the Nassau County State Supreme Court, per the firm’s announcement.
Recognition
The firm’s standing rests principally on institutional tenure — more than half a century concentrated in one field, a 300-plus-building client roster, and independent trade-press coverage describing it as a leading firm for condos and co-ops in New York. New York does not maintain a formal board-certification system for real estate law comparable to Texas’s TBLS, so Awesome Attorneys does not apply “specialist” language to any attorney at this firm on that basis.
New York Legal Backdrop
Cooperative and condominium governance in New York sits at the intersection of contract and statute: co-op boards operate under the Business Corporation Law and their proprietary leases, condominiums under Real Property Law Article 9-B, and board decisions are generally shielded by the business judgment rule articulated by New York’s Court of Appeals in Matter of Levandusky v. One Fifth Avenue Apartment Corp. Conversions and offering plans are regulated by the New York Attorney General under General Business Law Article 23-A (the Martin Act). None of this is legal advice; a specific board, shareholder, or building dispute should be evaluated by a licensed New York attorney based on the actual facts involved.
Awesome Attorneys Assessment
Braverman Greenspun’s clearest differentiator is institutional depth in a single field: a firm that helped invent co-op and condo practice in New York, now counseling over 300 buildings, with bench strength added by merger rather than diluted by expansion. The honest trade-offs: the firm represents boards, unit owners, sponsors, and insurers at different times — a breadth disclosed here directly, which is normal for the field but means a prospective client should confirm conflict-free alignment for their specific dispute; it publishes no independently attributed client reviews; and its center of gravity is buildings and boards, not individual purchase-and-sale closings. For a co-op or condo board seeking standing counsel, a sponsor navigating an offering plan, or a shareholder or unit owner in a serious dispute with a building, this firm’s five-decade concentration is a reasonable basis for a shortlist; an individual buyer needing a routine closing may be better matched with a transaction-volume practice.
Methodology and Sourcing
This profile was researched from Braverman Greenspun’s own website, including its firm history and Robert J. Braverman’s attorney biography, the firm’s February 2023 and August 2023 Business Wire announcements, independent coverage of the Finder Novick Kerrigan combination in Habitat Magazine, and FindLaw listings confirming founding year, office address, and representative cases.
Publisher Disclosure and Independence Notice
Awesome Attorneys is an independent legal directory and editorial publication. This profile was not paid for, commissioned, or reviewed by Braverman Greenspun P.C. prior to publication. Awesome Attorneys does not endorse, recommend, or warrant any profiled firm, and inclusion in this directory is not a paid placement. “Awesome Attorneys” is a brand name only and does not constitute a rating or ranking claim. Facts stated are current only as of this profile’s research date.