Jeffrey Horwitz. Source: https://www.legal500.com/firms/50804-proskauer-rose-llp/c-united-states/lawyers/662780-jeffrey-horwitz
Harvard University. Photo: chensiyuan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sanders_theater_2009y.JPG)
University of Virginia School of Law. Photo: Mmw3v, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:University_of_Virginia_School_of_Law,_front.jpg)
Harvard University. Photo: chensiyuan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sanders_theater_2009y.JPG)
University of Virginia School of Law. Photo: Mmw3v, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:University_of_Virginia_School_of_Law,_front.jpg)
Jeffrey Alan Horwitz was born on July 16, 1959, in Elmira, New York, to Leon and Phyllis Horwitz. Elmira is a city in New York's Southern Tier with a long history connected to manufacturing, transportation, and education.
Horwitz later developed his professional life in New York, where he has worked in corporate law and participated in civic, cultural, educational, and community organizations. His documented interests include squash and tennis.
Horwitz studied at Harvard University, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1981, graduating cum laude. Harvard, founded in 1636, is the oldest institution of higher education in the United States and has long combined undergraduate liberal-arts education with advanced professional training.
He then attended the University of Virginia Law School, receiving a Juris Doctor degree in 1984. The University of Virginia, founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819, is a major public research university whose law school provides professional education in American law. During his legal studies, Horwitz was a Hardy Cross Dillard Legal Writing fellow in 1983 and was elected to the Order of the Coif.
Horwitz began his legal career at Proskauer Rose LLP and has remained with the firm throughout his professional life. He was admitted to the New York bar in 1985 and became a partner in the firm's Corporate Department. Proskauer Rose, founded in 1875, is an international law firm whose practices include corporate transactions, private capital, real estate, litigation, and sector-focused legal services.
At Proskauer, Horwitz has co-headed the Real Assets practice and led the Hospitality, Gaming & Leisure Group. He has also served as co-head of Mergers & Acquisitions and as a member of the firm's Executive Committee. His work has included mergers and acquisitions, securities transactions, cross-border transactions, long-term joint ventures, private equity, real estate, hospitality, entertainment, media, technology, and corporate governance.
Horwitz has advised boards, management teams, family offices, founders, institutions, funds, financial institutions, sovereign wealth funds, and private-equity investors. Proskauer reports that he has handled transactions with an aggregate value approaching $200 billion, including tender offers, going-private transactions, initial public offerings, restructurings, structured finance transactions, and acquisitions across industries including biotechnology, aerospace, retail, cable television, education, and scrap metal.
His real-estate and hospitality work has included hotel and casino development, construction, financing, management, marketing, reservations systems, portfolio acquisitions, property sales, restructurings, and disputes. He has worked on transactions involving thousands of hotels and hundreds of thousands of rooms, as well as office buildings, malls, retail properties, data centers, and other facilities. He has also represented clients in entertainment and media transactions involving Broadway organizations, theatre productions, television, radio, newspapers, magazines, advertising agencies, intellectual-property rights, and film financing.
Horwitz has spoken at Cornell University's Nolan School of Hotel Administration, New York University's Jonathan M. Tisch Center of Hospitality, and international lodging and investment conferences. His professional work has remained centered in New York while involving transactions and clients in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, Australia, South Africa, and India.
Horwitz has handled corporate, securities, mergers-and-acquisitions, private-equity, real-estate, hospitality, entertainment, and cross-border transactions with an aggregate reported value approaching $200 billion.
He co-founded The New York Hospitality Council and served as its chairman, helping provide a forum for hospitality-industry leaders.
He served as chairman of the board of Labyrinth Theater Company and later as chairman of the board of Building for the Arts, an organization associated with theatre, playwriting, and arts education.
He has advised on major hotel, resort, casino, real-estate, entertainment, and media transactions involving organizations and assets in the United States and multiple international regions.
Horwitz's professional outlook is reflected in a transactional approach that combines corporate, securities, real-estate, hospitality, entertainment, and governance advice. His work emphasizes long-term commercial arrangements, strategic planning, and counsel to organizations operating across jurisdictions and industries.
Horwitz has belonged to major professional legal and business organizations, including the American Bar Association, the New York City Bar, the Order of the Coif, the American Hotel & Lodging Association, the Real Estate Roundtable, the French-American Chamber of Commerce in the United States, and the American Society of Corporate Secretaries.
His organizational work has extended beyond professional associations. He has served on boards and advisory bodies connected with hospitality research, real estate finance, theatre, playwriting, education, youth development, photography, Jewish community services, and legal aid. These activities have included leadership positions as a board chair, director, officer, committee chair, and executive-committee member.
Member of the Section of Business Law and its Hospitality Law Committee.
American Bar Association , United States
Former chair of the Committee on Hotels, Restaurants and Tourism; previously served on the Committee on Children and the Law.
New York City Bar Association , United States
1985 - present
Elected to the legal honor society after graduating from the University of Virginia Law School.
Order of the Coif , United States
1984 - present
Member of the Executive Committee and Hospitality Investment Roundtable.
American Hotel & Lodging Association , United States
Member of the President's Council.
The Real Estate Roundtable , United States
Co-founder and chairman.
The New York Hospitality Council, Inc. , United States
Chairman of the board.
Labyrinth Theater Company , United States
2002 - 2018
Director and member of the executive board.
Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan , United States
1992 - 2008
Founder and chairman.
The American Playwriting Foundation , United States
2014 - 2021
Chairman of the board.
Building for the Arts , United States
2016 - present
Member of the board of directors.
StreetSquash , United States
2010 - present
Founding board member.
PhotoWork Foundation , United States
2022 - present
Officer for more than a decade.
Henry Kaufmann Foundation , United States
Member of the executive committee for more than five years.
UJA-Federation of New York Lawyers' Division , United States
Vice chair of the Associates' Campaign.
The Legal Aid Society , United States
Served as a director.
American-Israel Chamber of Commerce , United States
Member.
French-American Chamber of Commerce in the United States , United States
Member.
American Society of Corporate Secretaries , United States
Quotes from others about the person
Professional legal directories and institutional profiles describe Horwitz as a highly experienced corporate, mergers-and-acquisitions, real-estate, and hospitality lawyer. Chambers USA has recognized his work in the nationwide Leisure & Hospitality category, and Proskauer's profile identifies him as a strategic adviser to corporate, investment, and hospitality-sector clients.
Horwitz married Ellie Bogdonoff on December 10, 1988. They have two children, Emma P. Horwitz and Aaron Martin Horwitz.
His documented family and professional life has been centered in New York and Connecticut. He has also maintained longstanding connections with civic, cultural, educational, hospitality, and charitable organizations, including the Jewish Community Center in Manhattan, Labyrinth Theater Company, Building for the Arts, StreetSquash, PhotoWork Foundation, the American Playwriting Foundation, and The Legal Aid Society.
