2016 Women in Real Estate: Erica Buckley

Erica Buckley, Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP

Name: Erica Buckley

Title: Special Counsel, Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP

Email: [email protected]

Years in real estate: 12

Company Name: Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP

Year Founded: 1876 

URL: www.stroock.com

Telephone: 212-806-6006

How did you get your start in real estate?

As a tenant organizer/homeowner counselor in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn in 2002.

What real estate associations or organizations are you a member of?

Housing and Urban Development Committee of the New York City Bar Association; Women in Housing and Finance, NYC Chapter; NYSAFAH; REBNY; Board Member, Furman Center on Real Estate/Moelis Institute on Affordable Housing

What recent project or transaction are you most proud of?

During my two-year tenure as chief of the New York State Real Estate Finance Bureau I overhauled important forms of guidance, including policy memos and regulations. My team made significant strides in pushing the Bureau towards electric filing, and tirelessly pushed for additional staff and resources. In addition to focusing on the regulatory side of the Bureau, I oversaw a string of innovative enforcement efforts, including the 421-a Real Estate Compliance Program. I also developed strategies for all of the Bureau’s enforcement initiatives, including using its dissolution powers under the Business Corporation Law.

This implementation enabled the Bureau to preserve units of affordable housing by securing rent regulated leases. During my tenure, the Bureau led unprecedented enforcement initiatives for the office, which earned an appreciation award from Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman for extraordinary commitment to tenants and homeowners and equal justice under the laws of the State of New York.

What recent honor, achievement or recognition has meant the most to you and why?

In addition to receiving the appreciation award from attorney general Schneiderman at the time I left government service to join Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, I received a letter written by Manhattan borough president Gale Brewer to Eric Schneiderman, in which she praised my work and called me an outstanding public servant.

Who or what has been the strongest influence on your career and why?

I went to law school for my Dad, who has been my inspiration in life until recently. My Dad, a builder of single family homes in upstate New York, took such pride in his work, and he also tried very hard to provide homes to low income families and veterans during his entire life. The pride he took in helping others was a trait that I wanted to emulate. Today my inspiration is my 6 year old son, Rainier.