Romer Debbas

What Romer Debbas does

Romer Debbas LLP is a New York City-based boutique real estate law firm founded in 2011 and headquartered at 275 Madison Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, with a second office in East Hampton serving the Hamptons and Long Island East End markets. Operating as a limited liability partnership co-led by Michael J. Romer and Pierre E. Debbas, the firm delivers legal services across ten practice areas: Affordable Housing, Agency Lending, Business & Corporate, Co-op/Condo Board Representation, Commercial Real Estate, Immigration, Litigation, Real Estate Finance, Residential Real Estate, and Trusts & Estates. The firm's client base spans high-net-worth individuals purchasing and selling luxury residential properties (including co-ops, condos, townhouses, and pied-à-terre), institutional real estate investors and developers, co-op and condo boards, financial institutions, and litigation clients. Notable transactional scale includes the $88 million largest Hamptons transaction of 2024 and multiple multi-million-dollar Manhattan closings handled by partners such as Steven Matz, Sarah Tadros Awad, Michael R. Feldman, and Nicole Fadel.

The firm's business model is traditional professional services: fees are generated on a transaction-by-transaction basis across purchases, sales, financing, leasing, litigation, and corporate matters, with pricing quote-based on transaction complexity and property value (no publicly disclosed fee schedule). The firm expands through lateral partner hiring and tuck-in mergers, including the 2022 merger with Katz & Matz, P.C. and the addition of senior partners such as Steven Kirkpatrick, Lina M. Viviano, and Seth I. Feldman; the East Hampton office and Hamptons real estate and zoning practice extend geographic reach. Distribution is direct-to-client with no intermediary channel structure. Marketing relies on thought leadership — attorneys appear on Fox News, CNBC, and CNN, contribute to The Real Deal, New York Times, Law360, and Bloomberg, and publish a monthly newsletter reaching 25,000+ subscribers — supplemented by Super Lawyers and Best Lawyers recognition across multiple partners. The firm has no disclosed proprietary technology platform; operations are built on standard professional services tooling.

Name

Romer Debbas

Legal name

Romer Debbas LLP

Website

https://romerdebbas.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Romer Debbas LLP is a New York City boutique real estate law firm founded in 2011, providing transaction, finance, litigation, and governance counsel to high-net-worth individuals, investors, lenders, and co-op/condo boards across Manhattan and the Hamptons.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Legal Services - Real Estate Transactions: Professional legal fees for representing buyers, sellers, and lenders in residential and commercial real estate transactions including acquisitions, sales, financing, and leasing.
2. Litigation Services: Legal representation in real estate-related disputes, co-op/condo board matters, title claims, construction litigation, and landlord-tenant disputes.
3. Corporate and Entity Formation: Business entity formation, corporate governance, trusts and estates planning, and immigration services related to real estate transactions.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Romer Debbas LLP is a boutique New York City-based law firm providing specialized real estate legal services across residential and commercial transactions, co-op and condo board representation, real estate finance, litigation, business and corporate matters, immigration, and trusts and estates. The firm serves high-net-worth individuals, real estate investors and developers, co-op/condo boards, and lenders handling high-value luxury property deals throughout New York City and the Hamptons.

Product overview

Romer Debbas LLP is a New York City-based boutique real estate law firm offering comprehensive legal services through ten distinct practice areas. The firm provides specialized counsel across commercial and residential real estate transactions, real estate finance, litigation, business and corporate matters, immigration services, and trusts and estates. The practice operates as a unified full-service firm where attorneys across departments collaborate on complex transactions, with particular emphasis on high-value residential and commercial real estate deals throughout New York City and the Hamptons.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Residential Real Estate

Quantifiable outcome

• Ranked Top 5 most active real estate law firms in all of NYC
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP: Long-established NYC law firm with a prominent real estate, finance, and litigation practice serving institutional and HNW clients — a larger-scale incumbent competing in the same NYC deal space.
• Fried Frank LLP: Major NYC real estate practice serving large institutional investors, developers, and lenders — sets the upper bound of competition in the NYC real estate legal market.
• Greenberg Traurig LLP: Global law firm with a substantial NYC real estate practice serving institutional investors and developers — represents the larger-firm competitive threat on institutional mandates.
• Sidley Austin LLP: Global elite law firm with a significant NYC real estate and finance practice; competes for large institutional, cross-border, and high-value HNW engagements that Romer Debbas targets at the boutique level.

Direct peers

• Herrick Feinstein LLP: Mid-sized NYC-based law firm with a substantial real estate practice spanning residential, commercial, and litigation — the closest scale and market analog to Romer Debbas' NYC boutique model.
• Tarter Krinsky & Drogin LLP: NYC boutique law firm with a strong real estate and co-op/condo board practice, serving similar HNW and institutional clients in Manhattan transactions and governance matters.
• Belkin Burden Goldman & Wolk LLP: NYC boutique firm with deep expertise in co-op/condo board representation, residential real estate, and commercial leasing — directly competing in Romer Debbas' core NYC practice areas.
• Anderson Kill LLP: NYC boutique with a notable real estate and litigation practice, often serving property owners, managers, and institutional clients in disputes — comparable to Romer Debbas' litigation arm.
• Warshaw Burstein LLP: NYC-based full-service boutique firm with a long-standing real estate practice, serving HNW individuals, co-op/condo boards, and commercial clients in transactions and litigation.
• Abrams Garfinkel Margolis Bergson LLP: NYC boutique real estate law firm focused on co-op/condo board work, commercial leasing, and residential transactions — closely comparable in scale and service mix to Romer Debbas.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/romerdebbas
• Facebookfacebook.com/101620673255941
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/romer-debbas-llp

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Romer Debbas