Lawrence F. DiGiovanna

After 35 years in his own boutique practice, Mr. DiGiovanna joined Abrams Fensterman in 2016 and is Co-Chair of the firm’s Cooperative and Condominium Practice Group. Cooperative and condominium law has been the main focus of Mr. DiGiovanna’s practice for the past 46 years. Representation of cooperative boards of directors and condominium boards of managers comprises approximately 50% of Mr. DiGiovanna’s practice, in which he and his team of attorneys and paralegals advise the governing boards of housing complexes ranging from as small as 3 apartments to over 225. The firm handles its coop clients’ apartment transfers, mortgage refinancing, vendor contracts, shareholder default matters and provides general corporate governance advice. It recently assisted one of its boards with a disruptive shareholder with a mental health issue. The matter was resolved in a way that was much more compassionate than an eviction proceeding in landlord tenant court.

Drafting of condominium offering plans submitted to the NYS Attorney General for approximately 100 rental and new construction projects for both small local developers of 10 to 20 unit projects as well as larger high-rise developments for national real estate owners and developers has comprised the other half of Mr. DiGiovanna’s practice. For these complex condominium regime structures, Mr. DiGiovanna has drafted shared facilities agreements (SFAs), reciprocal easement agreements (REAs), and other agreements involving multiple neighboring condominium regimes. The firm also represents purchasers and sellers of homes and apartments as well and handles litigation related to the transactional areas of law in which it works.

Mr. DiGiovanna is a past president of the Brooklyn Bar Association and from 2011 to 2023 was the representative for the 2nd District on the executive committee of the Real Property Law Section of the New York State Bar Association. He is also the past chairman (2002-2006) of the Appellate Division’s Grievance Committee for Brooklyn, Queens & Staten Island and currently is a member of that court’s Committee on Character & Fitness.

In 2024, Mr. DiGiovanna was honored by the Bay Ridge Lawyers Association, of which he was elected president in 1988, by naming him an honorary fellow and director, a designation given to only 3 other members in the organization’s 70-year history. Mr. DiGiovanna has also received honors from the NYS Bar Association and the Brooklyn Bar Association for his pro bono work. He was vice president of the Brooklyn Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project (now Access Justice Brooklyn) for over 10 years and a member of its board of directors for more than 20 years. He also received the St. Thomas More Award from the Catholic Lawyers Guild of Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Bar Association awarded Mr. DiGiovanna its Distinguished Service Award in both the years 2000 and 2024.

Mr. DiGiovannna’s public and community service work includes membership on the boards of Victory Memorial Hospital, Lutheran Hospital, Augustana Nursing Home and St. Vincent’s Services, a major foster care and group home child care agency in New York City. Mr. DiGiovanna, as the then-president of the William M. Casey Foundation, Inc., St. Vincent’s real estate holding company, negotiated the merger with HeartShare Human Services in 2014, which resulted in the formation of HeartShare St. Vincent’s, at the time the largest child care agency in New York City. Mr. DiGiovanna has received Martindale-Hubbell’s highest rating for the past 27 years having been designated as “AV-Preeminent.” Under NY State law, such a designation has no legal effect and is not to be relied upon as indication of Mr. DiGiovanna’s ethical and/or professional competence. It is provided here for information only.