Monthly Feature: Get to Know... Marcy Finkelstein

February 1, 2025

“Explore and be curious” was the best piece of advice Marcy Finkelstein received as she headed to the University of Pennsylvania from her childhood home in Scarsdale. Understanding the value in that counsel, Marcy made sure to pack her curiosity and sense of adventure, along with her books, music, and an open-minded approach to her future. As she’s advanced through life and her career as a real estate attorney, Marcy has continued to explore new paths and listen to good advice.  

While an undergraduate, she was encouraged to study abroad in London. When she learned that Penn’s exchange program did not include that city, she found an exchange program that did, subsequently spending her junior year at the London School of Economics. Over the course of those 12 months, Marcy became embedded in the city’s culture, theater, literature and music scene while meeting and making friends with international students from India, Singapore, Malaysia, Turkey, Kuwait, Cyprus and Trinadad. Travel adventures included deciding on a moment’s notice to cross the English Channel in a hovercraft—these were pre-Chunnel days—and either have dinner in France or jump on a train and spend the evening in an Amsterdam coffee house. She also explored many other European cities in Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria and Italy. “I didn’t realize at the time what an amazing opportunity it was. Looking back, I can see how it shaped my world view and made me more well-rounded, and maybe a more interested and interesting person.”  

After completing her undergraduate degree, Marcy returned to London in the summer to visit her British friends and then decided to head to Spain for a week with a former classmate she met up with in London. “How did I make those decisions?” she muses. “We all plan out our time so carefully and deliberately now. In my youth it was more freewheeling and spontaneous.” 

Following in the footsteps of her father and grandfather, Marcy knew at an early age that she would continue the legacy and become an attorney. She had enjoyed summer positions at various New York City law firms during her undergraduate years. While she had weighed the idea of becoming a doctor, she came to realize that her love of history, writing and speaking was greater than her love of medicine, blood and guts. Envisioning a career at a top New York City law firm, Marcy accepted admission to Boston University School of Law. Before she could matriculate, however, a mentor suggested that she might be better served attending a law school where she could experience a regional culture unlike the Northeast. Seeing the wisdom in this advice, Marcy bid goodbye to BU and hello to Nashville and Vanderbilt University Law School.  

Vanderbilt did not disappoint. Nashville was not the tourist magnet it is today, but, as Marcy recalls, “It was cool and different, and I loved exploring the South. Classes at Vanderbilt were a quarter of the size of what I would have experienced at BU. I was well suited to the smaller classes and was meeting people from southern states. I was an adventurer at the time, traveling around the South, including day trips to Birmingham, Knoxville and Memphis and weekends in New Orleans. The culture and customs were so different from the Northeast. I loved learning these new perspectives.”  

“Now I look back at it all and say, who was that? I can’t believe I did all that and it still surprises me. Some of my adventures were, in retrospect, scary as a young woman sometimes traveling alone. Others were once in a lifetime, such as seeing a young John McEnroe play at the Paris Open, going to a dance club in East Berlin—this was before the Wall came down—and attending the Cannes film festival. When I got lost in the South of France in the time before cell phones, I followed my dad’s advice and made my way to the Carlton in Cannes. He had advised me that if I needed help, go to the Carlton. He was right.”  

Upon graduation, Marcy returned to New York and while working at a top law firm in Manhattan, represented major real estate developers and lending institutions. She also became acquainted with Long Island through summer shares on Fire Island and in the Hamptons. After a few years, she decided to leave the city and headed east, finding a firm that suited her expertise and ambitions at Lamb & Barnosky, where she worked for over 25 years. Ultimately, in 2020, heeding the advice of a close mentor, she left L&B when an opportunity arose to join Lazer, Aptheker, Rosella & Yedid, which had a strong and sophisticated real estate practice. “Lazer Aptheker offered me a way to bring my real estate practice to another level. I also got the chance to partner with Sam Yedid, one of the leading commercial real estate lawyers in the region.” Lazer Aptheker combined with Bond in 2022.  

Today, Marcy focuses her practice on commercial leasing, real property acquisitions and sales, and commercial lending. She also works closely with Bond’s business and transactions practice, handling the real estate aspects of mergers and acquisitions. Among other roles, she has counseled owners of shopping centers and office buildings on sophisticated leasing matters, school districts on leasing and selling real property, and nonprofit corporations on complex title issues.  

While Marcy doesn’t often dwell on her younger escapades, she continues to appreciate having had exposure to a wide range of cultures and experiences. “I learned how to be adaptable and flexible in my life and work and more introspective. I relate to other perspectives and respect different points of view, and … I continue to be on the lookout for good advice.”