Where We've Been
Olshan began in the 1960s when Marvin Olshan and Neil Grundman left a larger firm to strike out on their own. Jerome Kretchmer joined them to form Olshan Grundman & Kretchmer. Kretchmer was not only a lawyer; he served as a State Assemblyman and New York City’s Environmental Protection Administrator, and also ran for Mayor. The firm concentrated on transactional work, principally in Real Estate, and also in the burgeoning bowling alley industry.
The Olshan firm rented space to Robert Frome who was doing general corporate and securities law work. The firm started handling securities law work for clients of its own and Frome joined to make the new firm Olshan Grundman Frome & Kretchmer, with four partners and one associate. Olshan distinguished itself from its small competitors by representing a few large clients such as North American Mortgage Investors (NYSE) (one of the early and large REITs), Valley Industries, Inc. and E.F. Hutton (NYSE). Victor Rosenzweig joined the firm as an associate in the growing corporate and securities law group and became a partner within a year. After Kretchmer left to pursue the restaurant business the firm’s name was changed to Olshan Grundman Frome & Rosenzweig. Steven Wolosky joined the firm in 1984 and his name was later added to form Olshan Grundman Frome Rosenzweig & Wolosky. Steve expanded the breadth of the firm’s corporate department and continues to do corporate and securities work, M&A and to represent Steel Partners, one of the early activist funds. Robert Friedman came to Olshan in 1992, completing the senior tier of our corporate group.
The firm has grown organically, sprinkled with the hiring of a few talented lawyers in areas like Intellectual Property law, tax, employment and ERISA. Occasionally, Olshan has been able to attract talented groups of lawyers. In 2001, Lawrence Friedland, who had been practicing law for more than 50 years and was recognized as the dean of New York real estate lawyers, wanted to join a larger firm, and he and his colleagues joined Olshan’s real estate and tax groups. In 2005, Michael Fox and Adam Friedman joined the firm to provide creditors’ rights and bankruptcy expertise to our clients. Olshan expanded its capabilities once again in 2008 by the addition of Steven Gursky and six colleagues, who practice in the copyright, trademark and unfair competition areas. The most recent addition is a group of four attorneys led by Andrew Lustigman. That group specializes in advertising, marketing and promotions law.
We have grown by doing excellent legal work at fair prices and building relationships to retain the clients we have, and add new clients. The clients become part of the firm and establish long-term relationships with lawyers who become part of the firm and seldom leave.