{"id":133211,"date":"2025-09-12T15:57:18","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T23:57:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/09\/12\/founding-partner-of-top-20-biglaw-firm-passes-away\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T15:57:18","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T23:57:18","slug":"founding-partner-of-top-20-biglaw-firm-passes-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/09\/12\/founding-partner-of-top-20-biglaw-firm-passes-away\/","title":{"rendered":"Founding Partner Of Top 20 Biglaw Firm Passes Away"},"content":{"rendered":"

We have some incredibly unfortunate news to report out of Florida, where one of the founding partners of Am Law 100 firm Greenberg Traurig recently passed away<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

More than 50 years ago, Larry Hoffman<\/a>, 95, and attorneys Mel Greenberg and Robert Traurig were inspired over a deli lunch to create a new firm, and in 1967, the trio founded Greenberg Traurig Hoffman. After serving as founding chairman and CEO, Hoffman decided to remove his surname from the firm\u2019s name. Senior chairman Cesar L. Alvarez, one of Hoffman\u2019s mentees, notes in the American Lawyer<\/a> that it was because Hoffman was \u201c[n]onegotistical with the firm\u2019s best interest at heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoffman, a graduate of the University of Miami School of Law, oversaw the firm\u2019s expansion from Florida to major markets across the East Coast, from New York to Washington, D.C. Under his leadership and as the \u201carchitect of the blueprint for growth,\u201d Greenberg Traurig \u2014 currently ranked at No. 16 on the Am Law 100 \u2014 became one of the fastest-growing Biglaw firms. Thanks to Hoffman\u2019s vision, the firm has expanded globally, with more than 2,850 lawyers spread across 49 offices on four continents.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what Greenberg Traurig leaders Brian Duffy<\/a>, CEO, and Richard A. Rosenbaum<\/a>, executive chairman, had to say of Hoffman:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cLarry was an incredible businessman and an even better partner and friend,\u201d said Brian Duffy, CEO of Greenberg Traurig. \u201cWhen Larry believed in you, it gave you the confidence to believe in yourself. He did so many things the right way and always for the right reasons. His passing is a reminder to the entire GT Family of what we owe to the man and his legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout Larry Hoffman, Greenberg Traurig, and myself personally, would not have experienced the extraordinary growth and success we have seen over many years,\u201d said Richard A. Rosenbaum, executive chairman of Greenberg Traurig, in a statement. \u201cHe was my second father and without his vision, sacrifice, unselfishness, wisdom and business savvy, his deep, though quiet, understanding of so many things relevant to a growing professional service organization, and his instincts about people, we would simply not be who we are today.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Hoffman was the last living founder of the firm, having been predeceased by Traurig in 2018 and Greenberg in 1994.<\/p>\n

We here at Above the Law would like to extend our condolences to Larry Hoffman\u2019s family, friends, and colleagues during this difficult time.<\/p>\n

Greenberg Traurig Founder Larry Hoffman Dies at 95<\/a> [American Lawyer]<\/p>\n

\n
\"Staci
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Staci Zaretsky<\/a>\u00a0is the managing editor of Above the Law, where she\u2019s worked since 2011. She\u2019d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email<\/a> her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on\u00a0Bluesky<\/a>,\u00a0X\/Twitter<\/a>, and\u00a0Threads<\/a>,\u00a0or connect with her on\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Founding Partner Of Top 20 Biglaw Firm Passes Away<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(Image via Getty)\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We have some incredibly unfortunate news to report out of Florida, where one of the founding partners of Am Law 100 firm Greenberg Traurig recently passed away<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

More than 50 years ago, Larry Hoffman<\/a>, 95, and attorneys Mel Greenberg and Robert Traurig were inspired over a deli lunch to create a new firm, and in 1967, the trio founded Greenberg Traurig Hoffman. After serving as founding chairman and CEO, Hoffman decided to remove his surname from the firm\u2019s name. Senior chairman Cesar L. Alvarez, one of Hoffman\u2019s mentees, notes in the American Lawyer<\/a> that it was because Hoffman was \u201c[n]onegotistical with the firm\u2019s best interest at heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoffman, a graduate of the University of Miami School of Law, oversaw the firm\u2019s expansion from Florida to major markets across the East Coast, from New York to Washington, D.C. Under his leadership and as the \u201carchitect of the blueprint for growth,\u201d Greenberg Traurig \u2014 currently ranked at No. 16 on the Am Law 100 \u2014 became one of the fastest-growing Biglaw firms. Thanks to Hoffman\u2019s vision, the firm has expanded globally, with more than 2,850 lawyers spread across 49 offices on four continents.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what Greenberg Traurig leaders Brian Duffy<\/a>, CEO, and Richard A. Rosenbaum<\/a>, executive chairman, had to say of Hoffman:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cLarry was an incredible businessman and an even better partner and friend,\u201d said Brian Duffy, CEO of Greenberg Traurig. \u201cWhen Larry believed in you, it gave you the confidence to believe in yourself. He did so many things the right way and always for the right reasons. His passing is a reminder to the entire GT Family of what we owe to the man and his legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout Larry Hoffman, Greenberg Traurig, and myself personally, would not have experienced the extraordinary growth and success we have seen over many years,\u201d said Richard A. Rosenbaum, executive chairman of Greenberg Traurig, in a statement. \u201cHe was my second father and without his vision, sacrifice, unselfishness, wisdom and business savvy, his deep, though quiet, understanding of so many things relevant to a growing professional service organization, and his instincts about people, we would simply not be who we are today.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Hoffman was the last living founder of the firm, having been predeceased by Traurig in 2018 and Greenberg in 1994.<\/p>\n

We here at Above the Law would like to extend our condolences to Larry Hoffman\u2019s family, friends, and colleagues during this difficult time.<\/p>\n

Greenberg Traurig Founder Larry Hoffman Dies at 95<\/a> [American Lawyer]<\/p>\n

\n
\"Staci
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Staci Zaretsky<\/a>\u00a0is the managing editor of Above the Law, where she\u2019s worked since 2011. She\u2019d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email<\/a> her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on\u00a0Bluesky<\/a>,\u00a0X\/Twitter<\/a>, and\u00a0Threads<\/a>,\u00a0or connect with her on\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We have some incredibly unfortunate news to report out of Florida, where one of the founding partners of Am Law 100 firm Greenberg Traurig recently passed away.\u00a0 More than 50 years ago, Larry Hoffman, 95, and attorneys Mel Greenberg and Robert Traurig were inspired over a deli lunch to create a new firm, and in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":133212,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-133211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Staci-Zaretsky-w55J5e.jpg?fit=150%2C100&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}