Issue #11 | September 16, 2024 | |
MORE THAN JUST THE SEASONS CHANGING | |
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In case you missed the big news, we're excited to share that Corey Smith joined the firm as Chief Operating Officer (COO), effective August 19, 2024. Corey joined the firm after nearly 16 years at Dechert LLP, where served as COO for the last five years. He is taking the reigns from outgoing COO Thomas Ecker, who retired on August 31, after 23 years with the firm. Corey brings decades of experience in financial and operational management, performance improvement and regulatory compliance. With his proven track record for growth, we can't wait to see what's in store for the Firm's future.
When Tom’s retirement was announced at a partner’s meeting, it was met with thunderous applause and a standing ovation for his years of service and leadership. Brad said it best: “His contributions to the firm are countless, and while he will certainly be missed, we wish him the very best in his well-deserved retirement.”
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New firm members at our May Meet & Greet: Yordan Karov, Alyssa Radovanovich, Benjamin Fischer, Ed Guzman and Catherine Wigglesworth. | |
Dean Adler of Lubert-Adler Partners drew a standing room only crowd to share the latest insights on Philadelphia's real estate market and beyond for this year's Dean Adler: Unplugged. | |
New team members at our September Meet & Greet: Corey Smith, Derec McKinley, Quincy Conrad, Isabella Gray, Andrea Sálomon and Will Kane | |
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BRAD KROUSE & KLEHR HARRISON HONORED BY ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE
On May 30, Brad Krouse and Klehr Harrison received the ADL's Americanism Award at The Good Fight for their commitment to fighting antisemitism, discrimination and hate in all its forms.
MC Marc Zumoff presided over the evening, which included moving remarks on the state of antisemitism today by ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt as well as ADL Philadelphia Regional Director Andrew Goretsky.
Thank you to all of our alumni who supported the firm in raising over one million dollars to support the ADL!
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Roger Brush, Kennedy Lewis Investment Management
Managing Director
Roger was an associate at Klehr Harrison from 1988 until 1993, primarily working on loan workouts, including loan documentation, commercial litigation and bankruptcy. He went on to join Toll Brothers in an operations role, but they really brought him on to utilize his experience and knowledge of loan workouts to buy and work out nonperforming loans. Roger cites his training and experience at Klehr Harrison as providing him with a skill set that prepared him well for business.
At Toll Brothers, Roger used his loan workout experience to his advantage to purchase residential acquisition & development loans from financial institutions and the Resolution Trust Corporation and to convert them to real property. Subsequently, Roger was actively involved in many of Toll Brothers' homebuilder acquisitions as well as participating in much of Toll Brothers' organic expansion into new markets through market analysis and land acquisitions. Roger also gained “boots on the ground” experience overseeing a number of Toll Brothers’ home-building divisions across the country. During the Great Financial Crisis, he went on to found Gibraltar Real Estate Capital, initially to take advantage of distressed real estate opportunities and ultimately transitioning into a leading alternative, non-bank provider of acquisition and development capital to public and private homebuilders and land developers across the country.
As of August 1, though, Roger is officially with Kennedy Lewis Investment Management. KLIM acquired and absorbed Gibraltar and onboarded Roger’s team of 12 to join the company with him. He is excited at the opportunities that greater access to capital will allow.
Though he no longer practices law, he is proud to say that when he did, he practiced law at Klehr Harrison. He is steadfast in his level of respect for both the firm and its attorneys. Roger can easily point to the three things he remembers most about the firm—mentorship, comradery and responsibility. He considers his primary mentors at the time to be Lenny Klehr and Stuart Askot and fondly remembers the comradery between attorneys that made it a very welcoming environment and easy to learn. He also credits the firm’s commitment to giving associates a great deal of responsibility for allowing him to quickly grow his knowledge and experience. He continues to keep in touch with many attorneys at the firm, including Frank Correll and Denise Day. FUN FACT: When Roger worked at Klehr, Denise was his client, and now it is the other way around. His capital providers often dictate firm selection, but he is always excited to find opportunities to work with Klehr Harrison.
Outside of work, Roger and his wife, Bryna, are empty-nesters aside from their 90-pound sheepadoodle, Bowie. Their two sons, Dylan and Austin, are grown but inherited some real estate genes and are now doing residential real estate sales in Los Angeles and commercial real estate finance in New York, respectively. Repair work kept him from being able to enjoy his shore home in Longport, New Jersey, until just recently this summer, but he enjoys his time away there. Roger is also very active in the deaf community and sits on the Board of Trustees for the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, an organization he has been involved with nearly his whole life.
Interested in being featured in our Alumni Spotlight? Send an email to marketing@klehr.com.
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MEET OUR 2024
FELLOWS & INTERNS
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Our 2024 Diversity Fellowship Program, which includes eight weeks of in-person work experience as well as continued mentorship and social and professional development opportunities during the academic year, started in June. We were pleased to welcome Jonathan Dodo and Ryan Steele to our offices for the summer. Jonathan is a 2L at Rutgers Law School. He completed rotations with the Litigation Department and the Corporate and Securities Department. Ryan is a 1L at Temple University’s James E. Beasley School of Law. He completed rotations with the Real Estate and Finance Department and the Bankruptcy and Restructuring Department.
We are also thankful for the contributions of Drexel Law Co-op Ryan Kaisinger, a 3L at Drexel Law, and undergrad intern Izabella Toscano, a rising sophomore at Colgate University, both of whom spent time with the firm this summer. Our fall Drexel Co-op placement, Will Kane, joined us a couple of weeks ago. Will is in his final year of law school and is earning his MBA as well.
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We still have plenty of great programming planned for the remainder of the year. You can now choose to join us in person (free lunch!) or online via Zoom. Just indicate when registering that you wish to attend in person.
10.15.24 - Lunch & Learn – Suburban Zoning 101: The Who, the What and the How, presented by Matthew McHugh and Leonard Altieri
Save the date:
10.22.24 - Financial Statements for Lawyers, presented by Marcum, LLP
10.30.24 - E-Discovery, presented by Chris Orrin
11.12.24 - Distressed Real Estate, presented by Cori Brennan, Alex Hill and Greg Gosfield
And don't miss the Firm's first annual
M&A Summit, click below to learn more!
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Meet the CaST!
For the last several years, the Firm's Fun Squad organized social activities—sometimes, with a focus on community engagement. Separately, members of our firm also organized several philanthropic initiatives, such as back-to-school drives, the Match Maker program, Project Home hygiene kits, MANNA pies and more. With both initiatives at the top of our minds, we thought it was a wonderful opportunity to do something a little different. We're pleased to introduce you to the Community and Social Team, aka “CaST,” a reinvigorated version of our Fun Squad that will also lead our philanthropic and community endeavors. The goal will be to bring together our firm community while connecting our firm to the broader community, further building on the culture of giving back that our firm and its members have established over the years. The group is being led by Corporate Partner, Justin Csik.
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Drexel Law School Dean Daniel Filler joined some of our Drexel Alum for a breakfast and discussion on the current and future state of the law school. | |
The DEI Committee welcomed a speaker in honor of Disability Pride Month, Rebecca Levenberg. Rebecca is a teacher by training, a mentor to amputees, a championship rock climber and speaker. | |
Members of the firm with this year's office collection in support of ACHIEVEability's back-to-school drive. Thanks to Monica Clarke Platt, who serves as an ACHIEVEability board member, for organizing the drive! | |
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DID YOU KNOW…
...In addition to Tom's retirement, Peggy Lincoln, Leslie Gerstein and Mary Ellen O'laughlin also hung up their hats for the final time to enjoy the retired life.
...As of July 1, 2024, Lisa Lori's primary role is President of Marywood University. She made history, becoming the first lay President of the university since its founding over 100 years ago.
...The firm launched a formal appellate litigation practice group led by Glenn Weiner. Read more about the group and its recent victories.
...The firm is gearing up for our 50th Anniversary in 2025! Share your stories or photos from your time at Klehr Harrison by reaching out to marketing@klehr.com.
...Since we last checked in, the firm has grown with the additions of associates Quincy Conrad and Isabella Gray in the Litigation Department, Andrea Sálomon and Justin Tennenbaum in the Real Estate & Finance Department, Madison Mueller in the Corporate & Securities Department, Derec Mckinley in the IT Department and Corey Smith as COO.
...We're hiring! We are currently seeking great people to fill the following open roles:
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Stay connected with Klehr Harrison throughout the year by following our social media pages.
Just click the logos below!
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