New York office Managing Partner George Stamboulidis was profiled in the January/February/March 2010 issue of LEADERS magazine. Stamboulidis, who joined the firm with the opening of the New York office after an illustrious 13-year career as a federal prosecutor in New York and New Jersey, assumed leadership of the office in January 2009.
Stamboulidis was asked how the office's practice has developed since it was established in July 2001. "Initially, there was a fair amount of white collar work, both from existing clients and work that we were developing as we established the profile of the New York office," said Stamboulidis. "Then you had 9/11, and all white collar work came to a halt because, initially, all law enforcement resources were reallocated to running down counter-terrorism leads. At the time, we took in another law firm that had lost its office when the World Trade Center collapsed. We gave them a home until they could rebuild."
"By the end of 2001, white collar prosecutions came back with a vengeance—things like WorldCom, Tyco, and Enron—and our practice again flourished," continued Stamboulidis. "We were selected to handle the monitorship of Merrill Lynch out of the Justice Department’s criminal probe of Enron, and that led to similar monitoring engagements in later years, for the Bank of New York and Mellon Bank. That ultimately positioned us well to be appointed in the liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, LLC, where we serve as trustee and counsel to the trustee with the responsibility to recover assets for distribution to the investors."
Asked how the firm has been able to continue to grow in the New York market against the current trends of layoffs and downsizing, Stamboulidis said, "It's a combination of factors. This is a firm that has no debt and it has always run itself in a way that is fiscally sound. In the boom times, we may not be at the peak of the wave, but in the harsh economic times, we're still in the upper portion of the wave. We never hit the low, which makes it very attractive for people like me to come to a firm with a lot of stability; where you know you can practice law with a bright, talented, and diverse team of attorneys; and where you can help clients without having to worry about the firm's future."
Stamboulidis said that becoming the managing partner of the firm's New York office has made it more challenging for him to balance his time, "but life is a balancing act. I love the practice of law, and continue to actively handle client matters. In many ways, my role as a firm administrator brings more value to my clients because I better understand how to run a business. This has made me a better lawyer for our business clients," said Stamboulidis.
Click here to read the full article from the LEADERS magazine website.