Leonard Grunstein, Esq.
Partner
Troutman Sanders LLP

Leonard Grunstein, Esq. is a Senior Partner at Jenkens & Gilchrist Parker Chapin LLP, one of the preeminent law firms in the United States with nearly 500 attorneys in 10 cities.  He is recognized by clients and his peers alike as a dean of the Real Estate Bar, his area of specialization.  As a lawyer’s lawyer, he has served as an adjunct professor of law at Cardozo Law School, teaching Coop and Condominium Law; has been commissioned by the New York Law Journal Press to write a legal treatise on Coop/Condominium Law and Practice; and has been named as a judge by the Real Estate Board of New York in the Deal of the Year Competition.

Mr. Grunstein is a founder of the Metropolitan National Bank and before that, New York Federal Savings Bank.  MetBank, after only four years in operation, is at the top of its peer group.  A visionary in banking, he organized New York Federal Savings Bank more than 14 years ago as one of the first internet banks.  Mr. Grunstein was the Chairman of MetBank until recently.  He is now pursuing the acquisition of Israel Discount Bank and is among the finalists bidding for the Bank.

Mr. Grunstein is also a philanthropist who quietly but effectively helps those in the community who are in need.  He is the founder of Project Ezra, an organization which helps families when their major breadwinners are out-of-work and a supporter of Beit Issy Shapiro, a residential home for developmentally delayed children.  He is a supporter of numerous other organizations, including, of course, JCT.  He serves on the Board of the Museum of the Western Wall, the Genesis Foundation and Generations, which supports the efforts of Rav Kook in Israel.

Mr. Grunstein was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 18, 1952.  He is married and has three children, all of whom are married, and has four grandchildren.  He attended Queens College of the City University of New York and graduated with a B.A., magna cum laude in 1972, Phi Beta Kappa.  He attended Brooklyn Law School, J.D. and graduated in 1975.  He was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1976 and in 1978 to the U.S. District Court, Southern and Eastern Districts of New York and U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.  He is a member of the New York State and American Bar Associations.