Itkowitz & Harwood

Attorneys

Jay B. Itkowitz

Founding Partner

The founding partner of Itkowitz & Harwood, Jay Itkowitz, has tried to verdict hundreds of jury and non-jury cases in state and federal court. Itkowitz & Harwood specializes in complex commercial litigation. See our Accomplishments section, which contains the full text of hundreds of decisions won by I&H over the last three decades, each introduced by a brief case synopsis, often with links to press and video.

Mr. Itkowitz is admitted to practice in New York State, the U.S. District Court, Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, the U.S. Court of Appeals 2d Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court. Mr. Itkowitz graduated from New York Law School with honors in 1977, where he published a note in the New York law School Law Review.

Mr. Itkowitz's firm just won a hard fought series of motions in a construction defect case that became an instant landmark in the area of e-discovery and sanctions. The decision, which received significant press coverage, extended concepts in e-discovery, which are well settled in federal court, to New York law.

Mr. Itkowitz's firm has cleared several buildings for major capital projects. I&H was lead counsel, for example, in evicting tenants from Grand Central Station in the mid 1990's so that its historic renovation could be commenced. Other "de-leasing" projects include clearing: a series of building at 750 Lexington Avenue for Cohen Brothers Realty Corporation; the New York City headquarters of the Directors Guild of America, Inc.; the New York Coliseum for the Triborough Bridge And Tunnel Authority; and a building on 11th Avenue in Manhattan containing approximately 150 sub-tenants for Charles Benenson & Preston R. Tisch.

Mr. Itkowitz is managing partner of a number of residential and commercial real estate projects, and is currently building a regional company offering state-of-the-art office suites for attorneys and other professionals. Mr. Itkowitz manages 40,000 square feet of office space in New York and New Jersey.

Mr. Itkowitz has been an adjunct professor of legal writing at New York Law School and has authored many articles and given many lectures on real estate issues, including for the Practicing Law Institute, the New York State Bar Association, the Rent Stabilization Association, Lorman Education services and Lawline. Mr. Itkowitz and the I&H Partners authored a chapter on lease remedy clauses for the New York State Bar Association Commercial Leasing Manual.

Recently, Mr. Itkowitz and Mr. Harwood produced an independent film, Frozen River, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. The film went on to garner two Academy Award nominations, for Best Original Screenplay and Best Actress, a remarkable achievement for an independently produced and financed film.

In 1992, at the request of the District Attorney, Mr. Itkowitz became a confidential informant against wrongdoers in the insurance industry, and gathered evidence, even wearing a concealed wire, which lead to a wide-ranging investigation that resulted in numerous indictments and convictions. Mr. Itkowitz, a former investigative journalist for newspapers in the New York Metropolitan Area, began his legal career as an Assistant Corporation Counsel for the City of New York and has clerked for a U.S. District Court Judge for the Southern District of New York and a Kings County Supreme Court Judge.

You may especially enjoy reading Mr. Itkowitz's November 1970 interview of Jerry Garcia.

 

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