Lesser brothers: Legal life after WolfBlock

For more than 30 years, Larry Lesser, his younger brother Bruce, and their partners shared a real estate and financial services law practice that grew to include Philadelphia fund manager Ira Lubert and other big dealmakers, first at Lesser & Kaplan in Blue Bell, then as co-chairmen of the financial services practice group at WolfBlock LLP of Philadelphia for the past 12 years.

"Bruce is best known for upfront documentation. I am best known for workout and bankruptcy," Larry Lesser told me. "We brought sophisticated clients to WolfBlock," which "had the capacity to support them. It worked, until a month ago." But now WolfBlock is no more, and the brothers have gone different directions, for the first time since Bruce joined Larry at his former firm in about 1977.

Larry Lesser has joined Jenkintown-based law firm Friedman Schuman and moved his practice back to the 'burbs, with fellow Wolf veterans David Stern and Elizabeth Grzywacz. "I'm going back to my roots. My practice is such that the people I deal with are my friends. I didn't want to lose those relationships," Lesser said. Friedman Schuman has "a solid reputation in corporate, estate planning and litigation. It's similar to Lesser & Kaplan. We're going to take their practice to the next level."

Meanwhile, Bruce Lesser, after a brief stop at Cozen & O'Connor after WolfBlock's dissolution, has gone on to serve Of Counsel in Blank Rome LLP's financial services group. "Bruce has a tremendous reputation in business and corporate law, specially in the financial services, real estate and banking areas," said Blank Rome managing partner and ceo Carl M. Buchholz in a statement. "I've worked alongside and across the table from Bruce," and "have been consistently impressed," added Blank Rome partner Lawrence F. Flick II.