Adam Leitman Bailey is an American lawyer who works in residential and commercial real estate law. He started his own law firm called Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. He was part of several important legal cases.

The Martindale-Hubbell peer review system gave him an AV rating, which is the highest rating they offer.

Early life and education

Bailey was born in Bayside, Queens. When he was five years old, he moved to California. Later, he returned to New Milford, New Jersey, where he attended New Milford High School. He graduated from high school and later earned degrees with honors from Rutgers University and the Syracuse University College of Law.

While studying at the Syracuse University College of Law, Bailey was chosen to join the Moot Court team. He studied under well-known lawyers Travis Lewin and Deborah Kenn. Adam Leitman Bailey was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award by New Milford High School.

Legal practice and notable cases

Adam Leitman Bailey has been described as a controversial figure in New York City real estate. In 2006, he helped an 83-year-old Holocaust survivor, Chaim Indig, in a case where Indig and his son-in-law were denied the chance to buy an apartment in Brooklyn. The president of the apartment’s board later bought the unit for himself. Bailey argued that the rejection was unfair because Indig was unable to move or speak due to Parkinson’s disease. The court ruled in Indig’s favor, and he was allowed to move into his apartment.

In 2008, Bailey started a non-profit group called “Save Harlem” to challenge changes to city zoning laws and to stop the planned demolition of a two-story building at 125th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard. The group wanted to prevent the site from being turned into a shopping center. Bailey proposed a law to stop the demolition. Along with tenants who formed a group called the “Coalition to Save Harlem,” they sued the city. The case ended with a settlement of more than $1 million, and the tenants were allowed to stay in the building.

Park51 was a planned Muslim community center near the World Trade Center site. A former firefighter, Timothy Brown, sued to stop the construction because it was close to where the September 11 attacks happened. Bailey represented the community center without charging fees. In 2011, a court ruled that Park51 could proceed with its plans.

Trump SoHo New York was a $450 million hotel and condominium project. In 2011, some buyers, including a French soccer player, sued the developers, claiming they were misled about how many apartments had been sold. Bailey represented the buyers. The case was settled, and the buyers recovered 90% of their deposits. Later, the case was called a major example of condo lawsuits, as developers now avoid sharing sales details with buyers’ lawyers.

In 2010, during the Great Recession, Bailey used a 1968 law called the Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act to help buyers of a $1 billion condo project in Queens avoid buying the units. The buyers claimed they could not get loans because the mortgage market had collapsed. The developer was ordered to refund 75% of the $5 million in deposits. Bailey was the first lawyer to use this law in this way. Congress later changed the law to exempt condos from its rules.

In 2009, Bailey won a $10.9 million judgment against a man named Mendel Brach, who was banned from selling real estate in New York. Brach had falsely claimed that a Brooklyn condo would be used for faculty housing to get a zoning change, but instead sold the units to the public.

In a famous case, Scarlett Johansson fired her mother, Melanie Sloan, as her agent and later had a dispute over a Manhattan apartment. Sloan had signed a contract to buy the apartment but claimed she could not afford it after being fired. She sued the sellers for her deposit. Bailey represented the sellers, and the sellers returned part of the deposit but kept the rest. The apartment was later sold again.

In 2011, Bailey helped a landlord get a court order to collect money from a tenant who owed rent. The tenant, a memorabilia collector, tried to sell a white suit John Lennon wore on the cover of the Beatles’ Abbey Road album. Bailey sued the gallery auctioning the suit, stopping the sale until the debt was paid.

In 2014, Bailey helped a condo board at 3 E. 78th St. stop a plan by NYU to expand its fine arts institute by connecting it to a donated space in the building. NYU claimed the bylaws allowed the changes, but the board argued approval was needed. Bailey pointed to the building’s bylaws and its design by architect C.P.H. Gilbert, and the expansion was blocked.

In another case, Bailey helped stop a plan to reconfigure a four-apartment house in Chelsea into a home. The owners were rejected by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. Bailey represented a neighbor and a local group, arguing the development did not fit the neighborhood. He later said the owners could now focus on the Mets instead of building a “McMansion.”

Bailey also helped Rosario Dawson and her family in a dispute over a co-op apartment in the East Village. The building was once a squatter property but was later converted to affordable housing. Dawson’s family earned the right to buy their home, and Bailey helped them with the purchase.

On May 3, 2019, Bailey was suspended from practicing law for four months. The suspension was due to unprofessional behavior, including telling a party involved in a lawsuit that they “should commit suicide,” and threatening criminal charges to gain an advantage in a civil case.

Philanthropy

In 2008, Bailey created the “Raymond 'Hap' Harrison” scholarship, which is named after his former high school track coach. Since then, he has provided four-year scholarships to 17 students: 10 from New Milford and seven from New York City schools.

Entertainment

Bailey helped write three parts for the 2014 movie 99 Homes directed by Ramin Bahrani. Because of this, the character in the movie who is an attorney taking over homes, played by Jonathan Vane, was named “Lawyer Bailey.” Bailey also appeared on an episode of Dateline NBC that looked into how people use persuasion.

Books

In 2011, Bailey wrote Finding The Uncommon Deal: A Top New York Lawyer Explains How to Buy a Home for the Lowest Possible Price. The book received the 2012 "First Time Author" award from the National Association of Real Estate Editors.

Bailey also wrote a children’s book titled Home, which earned a Silver award in the Picture Book/Early Reader category by Literary Classics.

Additionally, Bailey is a co-editor and author of Real Estate Titles: The Practice of Law in New York, a detailed legal book commonly used by lawyers and title professionals.

Honors

Bailey was named one of New York’s "Most Powerful Real Estate Attorneys" by the Commercial Observer in 2015.

Bailey was named one of New York's Top Real Estate litigators by Chambers & Partners in 2021.

Bailey was also recognized in The Best Lawyers in America since 2015 in Real Estate Law New York, New York.