Our Attorneys

Partner

Andrew N. Cutler

Mr. Cutler, a 1984 graduate of the Quinnipiac University School of Law, has extensive experience in all forms of residential real estate. Mr. Cutler currently specializes in transactional real estate together with his representation of developers, cooperative housing corporations and holders of unsold shares/units. Mr. Cutler has one of the most prominent transactional practices, representing both individual and institutional purchasers and sellers of homes, cooperative and condominium apartments in the New York Metropolitan area.

Prior to forming the predecessor firm of Cutler Minikes & Adelman LLP in 1990, Mr. Cutler was associated with a large Westchester County law firm that was active in representing developers, tenant associations and converters of residential properties to cooperative and condominium ownership, a mid-sized New York City law firm where he not only represented developers but headed the firm’s department representing several major institutional lenders.

Partner

Jonathan Z. Minikes


Mr. Minikes is a 1984 graduate of Brooklyn Law School. Throughout his career, Mr. Minikes has specialized in real estate law and has extensive knowledge of the complex rent laws governing New York State and New York City real estate. His practice encompasses all aspects of residential and commercial real estate law from both a litigation and transactional perspective. His litigation practice includes housing court litigation, supreme and civil court litigation as well appellate court work. Mr. Minikes has litigated countless matters in Housing Court, Civil Court and Supreme Court, spanning from landlord tenant litigation, complicated rent regulation disputes, contract litigation, lease disputes, guarantor actions and various other real estate matters. Mr. Minikes also represents cooperatives and condominiums in litigation disputes as well as other general matters and has extensive experience representing clients before New York City and State agencies including  the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal, New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, New York City Department of Buildings and New York City Environmental Control Board.  

In addition to his vast litigation experience and extensive knowledge of New York’s complex rent laws, Mr. Minikes has extensive transactional real estate experience the areas of leasing and real estate closings, representing clients in the drafting of leases and representing both buyers and sellers in condominium, cooperative and building sales and purchases. His litigation experience, coupled with his transactional real estate experience, provides his clients with unique legal expertise in all aspects of real estate matters.

Mr. Minikes is also assisted by his extraordinary staff, consisting of three associates, John O’Hara, Corey Allen, and James Hivnor, as well as his administrative assistants, Ali Ambron and Harvey Huddleston.

Partner

Richard B. Adelman

Mr. Adelman, a 1979 graduate of New York University School of Law, concentrates in the area of condominium and cooperative law.  He has been a member of Cutler Minikes & Adelman LLP since 1999. He primarily represents sponsors and holders of unsold shares/units before the New York State Office of the Attorney General in connection with their cooperative/condominium interests in properties in Manhattan and the surrounding New York City metropolitan area, assuring compliance with and guiding his clients through New York’s complex legal and regulatory scheme.  He prepares and files his clients’ offering plans, their offering plan amendments disclosing their acquisition and offer of unsold shares/unit packages and their on-going annual disclosure for both new construction and apartment building conversion properties. He also represents not-for-profit and commercial owners in connection with no-action and other exemption applications for commercial and mixed-use condominiums. His transactional practice includes his clients’ building and unsold shares package acquisitions, sales, mortgages and retail leasing and he advises his clients in connection with their dealings with the cooperative and condominium boards. He has represented many of his clients, both institutional and private owners, in connection with their packages of holdings for more than two decades.

From 1991 through 1998, in addition to his solo law practice representing sponsors and holders, he was a principal and Managing Director of The Whitehill Group, Inc., a real estate brokerage and asset management company which provided asset management and marketing/sales services during those difficult years to sponsors and to lenders which became successor sponsors to defaulted cooperative unsold shares interests, successfully implementing recovery programs, resolving disputes with cooperative boards with respect to sponsor defaults and implementing successful marketing programs for vacant and occupied apartments. From 1980 to 1991, he was a key executive, both General Counsel and Senior Vice President for Conversions, at M. J. Raynes Incorporated. He played a key role in the conversion to cooperative and condominium ownership over 25,000 units with values in excess of $2.5 Billion.