Law professors generally don’t earn as much as Biglaw partners. Legal academic salaries, while generally in the low six-figures, rarely go over, say, $400,000.

But some law profs own very, very nice homes. See, e.g. (in descending order by value):

• Columbia professor Hans Smit ($30 million mansion — yup, that’s seven zeros);

• Yale professor James Whitman ($5.7 million co-op);

• NYU professor Cathy Sharkey ($5.2 million apartment);

• “Feldsuk,” aka Harvard professors Jeannie Suk, who has a new book out that looks quite interesting, and Noah Feldman ($2.8 million mansion);

• Columbia professor Edward Morrison ($2.6 million townhouse); and

• Columbia professor Sarah Cleveland ($2.5 million townhouse).

  Sometimes the professors get financial assistance for these purchases from the schools that employ them. But sometimes the professors buy them on their own, without any university help.

  For example, as reported in the New York Observer, Daniel Fischel, former dean of the University of Chicago Law School, just picked up an $8.45 million Manhattan pied-à-terre. As breathlessly described by writer Max Abelson, the apartment features “custom electric shades, a steam shower, and a Sub-Zero wine refrigerator.”

  Sounds fabulous! Maybe Professor Fischel can donate a weekend in this apartment to the CLF public interest auction?

  Fischel’s famous neighbors, plus the story of how he got this rich — being a law school dean pays well, but not that well — after the jump.

Earlier this year, Latham & Watkins laid off some 400 employees (190 associates and 250 staff). This caused many to wonder about how tough times were getting at Latham.

Well, don’t shed tears for LW partners just yet. From the New York Times:

If a tourist passing along the Rue du Cloître Notre-Dame just looks up, it is not hard to glimpse, through the open windows above, the rich colors of old master paintings that have been stretched across a ceiling in Linda and Bryant Edwards’s first-floor apartment.

And from the home itself, in an elegant Haussmann building dating to 1905, the family has its own view — of the garden behind Notre Dame Cathedral….

When her husband, 54, presented her with the apartment as a gift for her 40th birthday, Mrs. Edwards envisioned a kind of “Tale of Two Cities” life, split between Paris and what was then the couple’s home in London.

The generous husband in question, Bryant Edwards, is a partner at Latham & Watkins. Last year he moved to Dubai, where he serves as managing partner of the firm’s Middle East office. The Edwardses now use their Paris apartment as a pied-à-terre when they return to the Continent.

So, the question you’re all wondering: How much did this amazing apartment cost?

I guess Justice Souter no longer has to play the role of humble civil servant, and can now start living the life of a former uber-powerful person. Yesterday, the New York Times reported that Souter is getting new digs:

When he retired from the Supreme Court in June, it was expected that Justice David H. Souter would return to his beloved family farmhouse in Weare, N.H., a rustic abode with peeling brown paint, rotting beams and plenty of the solitude he desired….

On July 30, he bought a 3,448-square-foot Cape Cod-style home in neighboring Hopkinton listed at $549,000. The single-floor home, for which he paid a reported $510,000, sits on 2.36 well-manicured acres.

The ABA Journal notes that Souter needed more space for his books.

At least he’s staying in New Hampshire. But his neighbors in Weare are acting like Souter is leaving the neighborhood to move to Havana or something. More details, plus photos, after the jump.

Remember James Ferraro, aka the Runaway Groom? He’s the multimillionaire trial lawyer who, back in January 2008, left his wife — Patricia Delinois, a well-known real estate broker — standing at the altar.

Their story ended happily: Ferraro and Delinois reconciled and eventually did get married, a few weeks later. And Mrs. Ferraro is probably very glad they did.

At least if she likes nice real estate. From the New York Observer:

James L. Ferraro, the prominent Miami trial lawyer who owns the Cleveland Gladiators arena football team, is finally buying a nice Manhattan apartment. This week he’s spending $8,175,000 on a penthouse at the glassy Park Imperial on West 56th Street.

Even though Mr. Ferraro owns places in Miami and a 14-bedroom Martha’s Vineyard mansion, it had been years since he felt he could get a good bargain in New York. “I thought about it after 9/11, but I didn’t want to buy on a calamity—be a vulture on someone’s property; not that it’s bad karma, it is what it is. But this now is the best buying opportunity you’re going to have in the next 25 years.”

So, how much did he pay per square foot?

Mega-fraudster Marc Dreier, who recently traded a magnificent penthouse for a cell at the MCC (look him up in the handy Inmate Locator), isn’t the only New York lawyer with new digs.

The iconic CBS Building (aka “Black Rock”), longtime home of Wachtell Lipton, has another prestigious legal tenant. From the New York Observer:

Law firm Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe was expected Thursday to sign a lease for approximately 220,000 square feet at CBS’ 38-story granite slab known as Black Rock, at 51 West 52nd Street, according to industry sources.

As part of the deal, Orrick is taking the space being vacated by UBS and Cushman & Wakefield, which will consolidate its midtown offices at 1290 Avenue of the Americas. Sources say that UBS paid more than $32 million to terminate its lease early, money which CBS applied to the Orrick deal to absorb the costs of Orrick’s build-out of the noncontiguous space to the tune of $150 a square foot, and which will reduce the firm’s rent in the building.

It’s a great building, with handsome, elegant architecture (courtesy of Eero Saarinen). Because the footprint is relatively small, it doesn’t have the impersonal, warehouse-like feel of many other New York office buildings. The midtown location is super-convenient, and the higher floors offer amazing views. (We know Black Rock well, having spent several thousand hours in it while working at Wachtell.)

An Orrick spokesperson confirmed to ATL that the deal, described by the Observer as “expected,” has closed. Congratulations to Orrick on the fabulous new digs!

Links and press release, after the jump.

When the economic meltdown started picking up steam last year, we were having brunch in the West Village with friends from the legal and financial worlds. One of the lawyers upset the financial folks at the table by rejoicing over the fall of Wall Street.

“Your massive salaries inflated the real estate market here. With financial folks being fired, Manhattan property prices will fall, and lawyers will be able to afford nicer places,” said the J.D. holder, who might not be as smug these days after the waves of law firm layoffs. Still, those words may well have been prophetic.

The Sunday New York Times just had a piece on Manhattan’s sinking housing prices, focusing on the real estate search of personal injury attorney Matthew Glassman and his wife. With their children out of the nest, they’re moving from a house in Long Island — which they sold for $1.61 million, a nice chunk of change — to a condo in Manhattan. They scored a place in Chelsea for less than a million dollars. From the Times:

It was sunny when they visited the Cheyney on West 23rd Street. A two-bedroom condo of around 1,150 square feet, it had two exposures, to the street and to a garden courtyard, but needed a complete renovation…. [T]hey focused on the good layout, with a hallway separating the bedrooms from the living room. There was a real second bedroom, not just a windowless office….

And the price, which started at $1.45 million in September, was steadily falling. The Glassmans paid $998,000 and closed in February. The common charge and taxes are $1,667 a month.

Only six figures! But the condo is a little bit of a fixer-upper, requiring $100,000 more in renovations.

Perhaps Glassman hoped to help pay that bill with the business drummed up by the NYT article. As the tipster who sent it along to us noted:

Gotta love the PI attorney who wore a shirt with his website on it while being photographed by the NY Times.

Will it work? Due to the wife’s blocking the shirt, we were misled and went first to Glassmanlaw.com. We were initially surprised that a personal injury attorney would specialize in immigration law and fiancee visas. But then we found the right site, Mglassmanlaw.com. We like that “Animal Bites” has its own category.

The Suburban Transplants [New York Times]

In these dire times, academia is regarded as a refuge. Sure, endowments are down, some schools have imposed hiring freezes, and budgets are being trimmed here and there. But the academy, especially the legal academy, hasn’t seen anything like the carnage experienced by Biglaw.

Take the ivory tower of Columbia Law School, which apparently remains an impregnable fortress against the recession. Despite a few budget cuts at the university, the law school still provides professors with delicious digs. From the Sunday New York Times:

Many buyers say that jumbo mortgages are hard to come by these days. But don’t tell that to Edward R. Morrison, a law professor and economist at Columbia University, who is something of an expert on these troubled times.

Last month Mr. Morrison and his wife, Anne, bought a restored two-family town house at 357 West 121 Street in Harlem for $2.575 million. Brokers said it was a record price for a town house in the neighborhood — just down the hill from the Columbia campus in Morningside Heights, near Morningside Park — and one of the top 10 town house sales in Harlem in recent years.

As we’ve told you before, to the Elect go all the spoils. (Ed Morrison clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia.)

Now, a $2.6 million townhouse is pretty sweet — but it’s not the nicest piece of real estate owned by a CLS faculty member. That title surely belongs to Hans Smit’s $29 million mansion.

(Actually, make that $30 million, the price reflected in the current version of the listing. What recession?)

More details about the Morrison manse, plus a picture of the super-cute professor, after the jump.

Remember Kathleen DeLaney and Courtney Thomas? Almost a year ago, this comely couple was named an ATL couple of the week. In the words of Laurie Lin, “Team DeLaney-Thomas, you’ve shaken LEWW out of our winter doldrums with your sterling credentials and sizzling good looks. Congratulations!”

Now ATL would like to congratulate the DeLaney-Thomases on something else: a fabulous new home. Once again, they make their appearance in the New York Times:

For three years, Kathleen DeLaney Thomas and her husband, Courtney Thomas, lived in a Chelsea rental of 900 square feet. “That apartment felt big when we moved in and small when we moved out,” Mrs. Thomas said….

The place had scarce closet space and an unnecessarily large second bedroom, carved from the living room, that made for a claustrophobic feel. Wedding gifts were stacked in the hall or stored at Mr. Thomas’s mother’s house in New Jersey.

ATL readers from Texas, this is your cue: “In Texas, you could live in a 5,000 square foot mansion for the same amount!”

The sluggish elevator drove the couple mad. If they were paying so much in rent — around $3,300 a month — they would rather get a return on their outlay. Once they saved enough for a down payment on a condominium, Mrs. Thomas said, “we were totally ready to go.”

And go they did — to Brooklyn, where all the cool kids live nowadays.

Read more about their fabulous new pad, after the jump.

No Gropius dorms for her, thank you very much. Harvard Law School student Cate Edwards, oldest daughter of prominent politician John Edwards, just purchased a million-dollar property in Washington’s tony Georgetown neighborhood.

From an item in Washingtonian:

Buyer: Harvard law student Cate Edwards.

Famous dad: Former presidential hopeful John Edwards.

Price: $1.3 million.

Amenities: Two bedrooms, five baths.

An NPR internship with Nina Totenberg doesn’t pay like a summer associate gig. Perhaps Cate was able to draw upon the fortune amassed by her father during his career as a top trial lawyer.

The property has two bedrooms and five bathrooms. A high bathroom-to-bedroom ratio is a token of a luxuriousness. But does Cate really need all those bathrooms? Does Papa Edwards — who might crash occasionally at Cate’s place, having sold his own mansion around the corner in 2006 (for $5.2 million) — really have that much ickiness to wash off?

The children of Senators Ted Kennedy and John Warner also snapped up some swank properties. Read about them over at Washingtonian.

Chips off the Old Blocks [Washingtonian]
No Conflict? NPR’s Nina Totenberg Takes on John Edwards Daughter As Summer Intern [NewsBusters.org]

Here’s an idea for how Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft — America’s Firingest Law Firm™, which laid off 35 lawyers in January, and then 96 more last month — can keep its surviving attorneys (plus all those incoming first-years) gainfully employed.

Have them work on the litigation over managing partner Robert Link’s Hamptons house.

Cadwalader Managing Partner In Hamptons Real Estate Squabble [Am Law Daily]
Robert O. Link, Jr. v. Richard Sarcona: Complaint (PDF) [Am Law Daily]
3 Halsey Path, Southampton, NY [Zillow]

Earlier: Prior ATL coverage of Robert Link (scroll down)
Prior ATL coverage of CWT (scroll down)

If you’ll be interviewing at law firms this fall, make sure you double check the address of the place you’re headed to. Law firms are constantly on the move and trading spaces. From the New York Observer (which follows commercial real estate as obsessively as we follow law firm layoffs):

Entertainment law powerhouse Pryor Cashman, whose clients include Penthouse founder Bob Guccione and numerous American Idol contestants, is in negotiations for 100,000 square feet at 605 Third Avenue, the 44-story glass box of a building owned by Fisher Brothers….

[T]he firm right now occupies about 100,000 square feet of contiguous space in three buildings, which means three leases—all of which expire at the end of next year—and three landlords.

That sounds rather inefficient — and annoying. But there are other firms that occupy multiple buildings in the same city. E.g., Skadden and Mayer Brown, in D.C.

Pryor Cashman isn’t the only law firm in search of new digs. The Observer reports that Paul Weiss and Fitzpatrick Cella are also in search of over 100,000 square feet apiece.

Favored American Idol Lawyers Negotiating Lease at 605 Third [New York Observer]

A picture is worth a thousand words, so we’ll keep this brief. From a tipster: “Look at this place. The estate of a Simpson Thatcher partner:”

For extensive photos of “Eastfair” — the McGraths’ baronial mansion and grounds, which hosted their daughter’s recent NYT-featured wedding — check out New York Social Diary.

Although the parents of the bride, Diahn Williams McGrath and retired Simpson partner Thomas McGrath, are both lawyers — and very successful ones, judging from that pile o’ bricks — their daughter and her husband are not attorneys. So the newlyweds weren’t eligible for consideration in Legal Eagle Wedding Watch, which has a one-lawyer-spouse minimum.

P.S. This is just their country place. They also have an apartment on Fifth Avenue.

Update: Via a commenter, see here for more details about Eastfair Castle. “The castle sat on 66 acres, had two tennis courts, one indoor and one outdoor. There was a beautiful inground pool with a view to Connecticut. I believe it was 1972 when he died, the house was sold to his close friend, Diane [sic] Williams.”

Wedding Bells are Ringing [New York Social Diary / David Patrick Columbia]
Courtney McGrath, Thomas Spangler III [New York Times]
Thomas J. McGrath: Retired Partner [Simpson Thacher & Bartlett]
Diahn Williams McGrath [Avvo]

In Lawyerly Lairs, we follow the real-estate moves of leading lawyers and law firms. The focus is typically residential. For example, last year we visited the Park Avenue apartment of this year’s commencement speaker at Georgetown Law, Joel Klein.

But every now and then, we go commercial, and write about law firm offices. E.g., Cleary Gottlieb; Gibson Dunn; Cravath.

Today’s featured tenant: Paul Weiss. From the New York Observer:

High-powered law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison is in negotiations with Vornado Realty Trust for more than one-third of the tower planned for atop the Port Authority bus station, a move that, if cemented, would extend the legal establishment’s apparently inexorable drift westward from the white-shoe stronghold of midtown.

A source close to the negotiations confirmed that Paul, Weiss is in serious, though early, negotiations to take 500,000 square feet in the middle of the 42-story building slated to rise from a platform atop the seedy bus terminal.

Seedy is right — but there are advantages to being based at Port Authority. Check out this list of shops and restaurants. It will be easy for beleaguered associates to slip away to Duane Reade, to fill that prescription for anti-anxiety medication. And lavish lunches at Munchy’s Gourmet — second floor, South Wing — will seal the deal for PW recruits.

Meanwhile, another top law firm is venturing beyond midtown. Also from the Observer (which covers the commercial real estate world as thoroughly as we cover Biglaw):

The largest tenant in the GM Building is relocating a portion of its operations from the gilded midtown tower to the decidedly humbler environs of downtown Brooklyn.

Weil, Gotshal & Manges, a global law firm with a New York staff of 1,300, has signed a lease for 35,000 square feet at Brooklyn’s 15 Metrotech Center, owned by Forest City Ratner.

Over the past few years, Brooklyn has been booming, growing increasingly attractive as a residential option for young professionals. But if you’re a Manhattan snob and Weil associate, have no fear. The Brooklyn digs will house information systems, finance, and operations; the lawyers will stay in the GM Building.

P.S. Speaking of the GM Building, here’s a digression on “safe email.” One ATL tipster likes to email us, using a non-work email account, from a computer in that building’s Apple store.

But you don’t need to be quite that cloak-and-dagger. It’s usually safe to email us, from a non-work account, using the web browser on your wireless device (like a Blackberry or iPhone); that traffic doesn’t pass through your law firm’s servers.

Of course, to be ultra-cautious, wait until you get home, and email us from your personal computer. Thanks.

Law Firm Nears Lease Atop Bus Terminal [New York Observer]
Big Manhattan Law Firm Exits GM Building for … Downtown Brooklyn [New York Observer]
Terminal Information & Services [Port Authority of New York and New Jersey]

A struggling personal injury lawyer was disbarred last month, for splitting fees with non-lawyers, aiding the unauthorized practice of law, and other offenses. Sounds pretty unexciting, right?

But Keith Rubinstein is no ordinary PI lawyer; don’t cry for him, Argentina. Last year, he beat out Evita — i.e., Madonna, the Material Girl herself — in a bidding war for a $35 million townhouse on the Upper East Side. For more about Rubinstein, see this interesting article, by Anthony Lin in the New York Law Journal.

Rubinstein is used to swanky digs. He previously lived in a West Village townhouse that Will Smith rented for $60,000 a month during the filming of “Hitch.”

Speaking of lawyerly landlords, Charles T. Munger, a founder of Munger, Tolles & Olson, has been in the news lately for real estate reasons. Munger owns the building that houses the popular Dutton’s bookstore in Brentwood, Los Angeles. Dutton’s is closing its doors in April, in part due to rising rents.

But don’t blame the bookstore’s fate on Charlie Munger. From the Los Angeles Times:

The property [housing Dutton’s] is owned by billionaire investor Charles T. Munger and his wife, Nancy. A founder of the Los Angeles law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson, he partnered in 1978 with Warren E. Buffett to run Berkshire Hathaway Inc., a holding company.

Munger was in Washington on Monday and could not be reached. He said in a statement that he would allow Dutton’s to use the space rent-free during the liquidation and that he would cover the $550,000 debt in exchange for the store’s closing. Dutton described the offer as “very gracious and generous.” As part of the deal, Munger said, Dutton would retain the Dutton’s trade name.

With a net worth of $2 billion, Munger can afford to be “very gracious and generous.” Anyone know how bonuses were at Munger this year?

Of course, Keith Rubinstein and Charlie Munger made their fortunes outside the law — through real estate and investing (Berkshire Hathaway), respectively. The moral of the story may be: if you want really big bucks, look beyond the law.

Lawyer Disbarred For Splitting Fees, Other Misconduct [New York Law Journal]
Dutton’s shelf life finally runs out [Los Angeles Times]

* A shout-out to the Elect on TV tonight. The lawyer protagonist of the new ABC drama, “Eli Stone” — portrayed by Jonny Lee Miller (pictured), an ex-husband of Angelina Jolie — is supposedly a former law clerk to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. [New York Times]

* A novel approach to the legal job hunt: build your own website, then advertise it in the ABA Journal. If Loyola 2L doesn’t have a job lined up already — although rumor has it that he does, which may explain his “retirement” from blogging — here’s something for him to consider. [3L for Hire and ABA Journal, via WSJ Law Blog]

* More proof that New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is a wannabe Eliot Spitzer. [DealBreaker]

* Lawyerly lairs: Tunisia. [flickr]

Why do the gay lawyers land all the fabulous real estate? Just a few days after this installment of Lawyerly Lairs, profiling the palatial pads of two same-sex couples, we learn of a third such couple living large in New York.

A reader sums it up nicely: “This seems right up our alley for Lawyerly Lairs: Manhattan / East Hampton real estate, Yale Law alum (then Paul Weiss before going in-house), Ivy League pedigree on both sides of the same-sex partnership, and shout-outs by the New York Times.”

Indeed it is. Read about the charmed life of architect Michael Haverland and lawyer-turned novelist Philip Galanes, follow their successful adventures in NYC real estate (and furniture collecting), and ogle photos of their luxurious Upper East Side and East Hampton homes, in this NYT article.

Starting Over, and Over, and Over [New York Times]
Philip Galanes biography [galaneshaverland.com]

Earlier: Lawyerly Lairs: Gay Gotham Edition

In Chicago, gay lawyers get to attend exclusive parties. In New York, they enjoy a finer prize: luxury real estate.

The law schools of Columbia and NYU have been battling over faculty superstars for several years. And now NYU is bringing out the heavy artillery: multimillion-dollar condo purchases. From the New York Times:

Columbia University, in a never-ending search for a larger campus, has long had an outpost for faculty housing at 455 Central Park West — 53 apartments in an 26-story tower attached to the French Renaissance chateau at West 106th Street.

So it was something of a surprise when a foundation associated with New York University bought a large condominium in the complex. The unit, which cost $5.2 million, is built into one of the huge turrets of the chateau…. The duplex apartment has a round living and dining room with 37-foot high ceilings and Central Park views, along with three more conventional bedrooms.

Sounds fabulous! Who gets to inhabit this fabulous pad?

Find out, after the jump.

Not a heck of a lot going on today, a Friday in the holiday season. So let’s fall back on a staple of these pages: New York real estate.

If you’re an associate at Cleary Gottlieb who’s a fan of the current offices at One Liberty Plaza, congratulations. You’re not going anywhere anytime soon. From today’s New York Post:

[P]owerhouse law firm Cleary Gottlieb inked a deal to expand by 100,000 square feet at One Liberty Plaza. The law firm just signed a 20-year lease for 550,000 square-feet with landlord Brookfield Properties after more than a year of what Newmark Knight Frank broker Mark Weiss called “very competitive” and “very intricate” negotiations.

Cleary Gottlieb previously had 450,000 square feet under a lease due to expire in 2010. The “competitive” aspect was an attempt by Larry Silverstein to lure the firm to his new 7 World Trade Center.

Seven World Trade is a beautiful new building. But it’s expensive; we’re guessing Cleary got a very good deal to stay in its current spot. (The terms of the renewal were not disclosed.)

Meanwhile, a few miles uptown, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher is making a move. Details after the jump.

One of ATL’s more popular and long-running features is Lawyerly Lairs, in which we take you inside the luxurious homes of prominent members of the legal profession — leading lawyers, judges, and law professors. Past posts have featured a law professor’s $30 million Manhattan mansion, a commercial litigator’s $7 million waterfront estate in Miami, and the former home of Aaron Charney.

But it looks like it won’t be necessary for us to visit Chicago, where the real estate purchases of attorneys are already thoroughly covered, by a site called Chicago Block Shopper. From Legal Blog Watch:

Did you know that Mel M. Justak, an estate-planning associate at Reed Smith in Chicago, and his wife just sold their two-bedroom condo in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood? They got $340,000 for it, $4,000 less than they paid to purchase it in 2003. Perkins Coie IP associate Douglas L. Sawyer and his wife fared better in selling their four-bedroom Lincoln Park home, receiving $1 million for a place they bought in 2005 for $925,000. Meanwhile, Faith Bugel, a staff attorney for the Environmental Law & Policy Center in Chicago, and David A. Rickard got a good deal for themselves in purchasing a four-bedroom, 5.1 bath home in Lincoln Park for $1.73 million. They bought it from Chicago Title, which paid a million more for the property in 2003.

How does Robert Ambrogi know all this? Find out, after the jump.

One year ago, we wrote about how Columbia law professor Hans Smit was trying to unload his 12,000 square foot home — the only freestanding single-family mansion in Manhattan — for a cool $29 million.

One year later, the good professor’s home is still on the market. Its white-marble-clad facade greeted us when we visited the New York Times homepage this morning (screencap and link to listing below).

The only difference from last year? The asking price, now up to $30 million.

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. And up your asking price by a million!

(In all seriousness, Professor Smit’s decision to round up to $30 million probably isn’t as crazy as it might seem. Despite the weak real estate market in the rest of the country, the market in New York City — especially at the high end — continues to be strong.)

Magnificent Mansion [Brown Harris Stevens]

Earlier: Lawyerly Lairs: Professor Smit’s Uptown Mansion