Michael D. Utevsky is Counsel to the firm. His primary areas of practice include commercial real estate leasing; purchases, sales and financing of commercial properties, including development sites; and representing individual purchasers and sellers of residential dwellings. His range of assignments has included entity formation and negotiation of operating agreements among various parties, construction contracts, contracts for the supply of goods and services to hotels and restaurants and advising cooperative and condominium sponsors and boards. His clients include landlords and tenants of commercial properties, real estate developers and investors, hotel owners, art galleries and other art-related organizations and individual purchasers and sellers of residences. He also represents non-profit entities and schools in matters related to real estate.

Mr. Utevsky formerly was General Counsel to Rockrose Development Corp. and has served as Real Estate Counsel to Steiner Studios and its affiliated real estate development division. Steiner Studios is reported to be the largest film and television production studio complex in the Eastern United States. Out of law school, he served as Law Clerk to The Honorable David N. Edelstein, Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Mr. Utevsky has a Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent Peer rating and is admitted to practice in New York.

Mr. Utevsky graduated with a B.A. from Cornell University (1970) and a J.D. from Fordham University School of Law (cum laude, 1978), where he was an editor and staff member of the Fordham Law Review.

Mr. Utevsky is a member of the Planning Board and was formerly Chair of the Village Advisory Committee on Deer Management for the Village of Head of the Harbor, New York. In the past he served on the boards of the Fort Greene Park Conservancy and Community Board 5 (Midtown Manhattan) and as Chair of its Land Use and Zoning Committee. He also served as President of the Board of Directors of the Flatbush Development Corporation. Additionally, he has the highest Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent Peer Rating.

Selected Articles and Publications

• “RPJ Counsel and Head of the Harbor Mayor Michael Utevsky Attempts to Bring the Calm After the Storm” RPJ – January 16, 2025
• “RPJ Counsel and Head of the Harbor Mayor Michael Utevsky and New York Governor Kathy Hochul Lead Response to Severe Storm in Suffolk Count” RPJ – September 3, 2024
• “RPJ Counsel Michael Utevsky Involved in Movement to Stop Harmful Subdivision in Smithtown, Long Island” RPJ – November 16, 2023
• “SoHo-NoHo Rezoning Litigation – No Go” RPJ – October 24, 2023
• “What’s in a Name? New York Legislature Passes LLC Transparency Act – LLCs and Their Individual Beneficial Owners Must Prepare for Disclosure (and Corporate/Tax Lawyers Prepare for More Work to Avoid It)” RPJ- September 27, 2023