Stephen M. Rathkopf

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

ABOUT STEPHEN M. RATHKOPF

Over a period of 35 years, I was a partner in three prominent Manhattan-based law firms. Currently, on a part time basis, I continue to render strategic advice and oversight to companies and high-net-worth individuals and sit on company boards. During my full time legal career, at different times, I was the head of a litigation department, a senior real estate partner, the chair of a corporate department, the head of a bankruptcy and restructure group, and a member of a law firm’s management committee. The vast majority of my legal work has involved well-known clients and/or been well-publicized matters of public interest. As a litigator, among other matters, I was lead trial counsel for the NYS judiciary in its litigation against the other branches of government, made new law in representing the trustee in the Winstar bankruptcy (not to mention obtaining a $320 million trial judgment upheld on appeal to the 3rd Circuit) and represented Nihon Sanyo in its litigation against Donald Trump and others over ownership of the Empire State Building. As a corporate attorney, I represented clients in various industries in middle-market mergers and acquisitions totaling several billion dollars and in the formation of funds totaling more than a billion dollars. My real estate practice included complex acquisitions and financings in all types of real estate transactions, ranging from development projects to class A office buildings. I have served on the boards of directors of several public and private companies and for four years co-wrote a weekly column for the New York Law Journal. I have been a frequent lecturer to professional groups and have conducted more than 50 seminars for senior and middle-level management at major companies (including Goldman Sachs, UBS, Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase, GECC, RBS, Ellington, SAC, LNR, and Teachers, to name a few). For two years I left private practice and served as Senior Vice President at Frontline Capital Group, a multi-billion dollar venture capital company, where I helped obtain controlling interests in, and then operate, seven companies, including HQ Global Workplaces, at a $1.2 billion valuation, the then second largest flexible office space company in the world. Under the pseudonym Stephen Hollevy, I am the author of a novel published in 2018 (“Law Firm Down: A Story of Greed, Envy, Sloth and Ego”) and, under my own name, my debut murder mystery, “The Call of the Wyldes,” published in August,2020. I have commenced writing a follow-up murder mystery while continuing my robust consulting practice.