Mark Edelstein

A suspiciously inappropriate relationship with opposing counsel...

• Mark Edelstein represented Donald Trump’s creditors during his 1990 financial meltdown. “Ask Mark S. Edelstein how he and the rest of the real estate finance lawyers in the New York office of Morrison & Foerster manage to stay fully engaged whether the market is up or down, and he'll give a simple answer: ‘We follow our clients.’ […] Although Morrison & Foerster is well known in New York for its litigation prowess and technology sector work, the members of the real estate practice have been consistent frontline players in some of the largest transactions -- and workouts -- in the New York market. Edelstein and his colleagues represented major institutions in the financing of the new Conde Nast Building at 4 Times Square, the Ernst & Young Building at 5 Times Square, Times Square Tower and the GM Building,as well as creditors in the multi-billion dollar restructurings of the Trump Organization and Olympia & York. Edelstein, 44, came to Morrison & Foerster in 1999 after 17 years as a banking, bankruptcy and real estate lawyer with Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy. The real estate part of his practice was an add-on to round out the financing side, and it came together during the early1990s, as many of New York's biggest Property owners were forced to restructure assets. Edelstein had a hand in the biggest real estate workouts of the decade, restructuring tens of billions of dollars of New York real estate and real estate loans involving developers such as Trump, Macklowe, Kalikow, O&Y and others.” (Real Estate Weekly, July 31, 2002)
• Trump maintained a personal relationship with Edelstein for years after his financial opinion (Edelstein was the lawyer for Trump’s opponents), and even filmemd a promotional video for Edelstein’s firm. “Mindful that he might face those same names on the way up again, Edelstein notes that his workout skills were ‘not the bombastic, pound-the-table variety.’ It explains why he has maintained relationships with a number of the moguls whose assets he had to help carve up for creditors. ‘We always treated one another with respect,’ he said. In fact, Edelstein recently persuaded Donald Trump, whose assets he helped lenders to restructure during the early 1990s, to participate in a Morrison & Foerster spoof videotape addressing the grand meaning of the ‘MoFo’ nickname.” (Real Estate Weekly, July 31, 2002)