Leslie D. Corwin, Esq.

Leslie Corwin is a successful and well-respected attorney whose practice focuses primarily on mergers and acquisitions, liquidations, dissolutions and bankruptcies. As one of the nation’s foremost authorities in business divorce disputes, he has negotiated hundreds of cases on behalf of the principals, partners and senior executives for many of the country’s leading investment banks and private equity firms, international and national law firms, accounting firms, broker-dealers, hedge funds and real estate developers. He has deep experience with the full range of valuation, accounting and ethical issues that typically arise in business disputes (both nationally and internationally). Further, he has litigated disputes in the emerging field of litigation funding.

Mr. Corwin has played a critical role in constructing and unwinding some of the legal profession’s largest law firms. He has handled the mergers of numerous firms and advised on multiple dissolutions including an international firm that once had more than 730 attorneys across 15 offices – and whose dissolution plan was sustained by the California Supreme Court. Mr. Corwin has also litigated issues of first impression. In the 1990’s, his litigation of the seminal Dawson v. White & Case matter led New York State to pass legislation allowing for the sale of legal practices. The book entitled Law Firm Partnership Agreements, which he co-authored, remains the definitive treatise on the subject.

As a neutral, Mr. Corwin draws upon his years of experience when negotiating business transactions and agreements and mediating or arbitrating in the private ADR forum, bringing to resolution even the most complex financial and interpersonal conflicts. Additionally, he has handled, counseled and supervised numerous complex disputes and lawsuits throughout the United States that include issues relating to finance, real estate, securities, entertainment, employment law, ERISA, corporate management agreements, franchise acquisition, legal fees, licensing, partnerships, professional liability and disciplinary proceedings, contracts, legal and ethical responsibilities of corporate board members, director and officer liability, errors and omissions and breach of fiduciary duty.

Mr. Corwin is well-respected and highly regarded throughout the legal and business communities and is known for his substantive knowledge and professionalism. In addition to his role as an arbitrator and mediator with NAM, he is Of Counsel to a prestigious AMLaw 100 law firm.

He is a member of the American Law Institute, a member of the Committee on Character and Fitness for the Supreme Court of the State of New York, First Judicial Department and serves on multiple other court committees. In 2019, Mr. Corwin was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the New York Law Journal which recognizes outstanding legal professionals who have made a significant impact on the practice of law. He was named to The American Lawyer’s 2021 Inaugural List of Northeast Trailblazers and also named as one of the New York Law Journal’s 2019 Inaugural List of New York Trailblazers. He is a frequent analyst on CNN, CNBC, and Fox television as well as for The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. He also writes extensively for law journals and leading industry publications and has lectured for the judiciary, bar, legal associations and law schools, industry organizations and Harvard Business School.

In 2017, Mr. Corwin was invited to attend the annual Aspen Institute’s Justice & Society Seminar, an annual invitation-only seminar co-founded by the late Supreme Court Justice, Harry A. Blackmun. The Seminar brings together a diverse group of lifelong learners to explore and examine what justice means and how a just society should structure its legal, judicial, and political institutions. Mr. Corwin’s seminar was led by Robert Post, Dean of Yale Law School and Brett Kavanaugh, now a Justice of the Supreme Court.

Mr. Corwin is available to arbitrate and mediate business disputes throughout the United States.