New York, NY (Dec. 22, 2009) – Anderson Kill & Olick, P.C. announced today that Arthur S. Olick is retiring from the firm effective January 1, 2010, after a distinguished legal career spanning more than half a century.

A former federal prosecutor who joined the firm that came to bear his name in 1974, Mr. Olick was for more than two decades one of the nation's foremost bankruptcy attorneys, a pioneer first in the formation of asbestos bankruptcy trusts and then in the orderly dissolution of major law firms.  In connection with the bankruptcy reorganization of Johns Manville, Mr. Olick was an architect of the Manville Reorganization Trust and also served as trial counsel for many asbestos producers in the personal injury litigation. With the creation of the Asbestos Claims Facility, Mr. Olick was designated trial counsel in New York State. When the Center for Claims Resolution was formed he became New York State counsel for the producers in that entity as well. Mr. Olick has also been a major factor in the reorganizations and dissolutions of numerous professional partnerships and law firms such as Finley Kumble; Laventhal & Horwath; Lord Day & Lord; Barrett Smith; Gaston & Snow; Bower & Gardner; Shea & Gould; Mudge Rose Guthrie Alexander & Ferdon; and Dreyer & Traub. In his work with distressed law firms, Mr. Olick was known as a conciliatory presence who could bring all parties to the table to work out an orderly dissolution or restructuring. Arthur made the simple point of saying, ‘Get rid of the anger, get rid of the emotion and look at what makes sense,'" one former partner of a dissolved firm told The Wall Street Journal in a 1995 profile.   Of his work successfully restructuring firms that escaped bankruptcy, Mr. Olick told The New York Law Journal, "sometimes it's the personal relationships that need restructuring."More recently, while retaining a hand in bankruptcy work, Mr. Olick has concentrated his practice in insurance recovery. He has been responsible for much of the developing law in the field of property damage and comprehensive general liability insurance recovering vast sums from recalcitrant carriers."Everyone at Anderson Kill & Olick owes Arthur a debt for his long and dedicated service," said Robert M. Horkovich, the firm's managing partner. "He helped establish the national brand name of Anderson Kill & Olick and created a bankruptcy practice that has been a central part of many of the most important cases of the last thirty years. Today, with Todd Duffy at the helm, our bankruptcy practice is well equipped to take on challenges that require the same kind of creativity, tenacity and toughness that Arthur demonstrated for so many years."Prior to joining Anderson Kill & Olick, Mr. Olick was an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York and Chief of the Civil Division. Earlier in his career he was Town and Village Attorney for numerous municipalities in Westchester County, New York. Mr. Olick has served as a lecturer at Yale University and the University of Georgia, and was on the staff of the U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Military Government School, Fort Gordon, Georgia. He holds a J.D. from Yale Law School, a B.A. Magna cum Laude from Yale College, and is a member, Phi Beta Kappa. About Anderson Kill & OlickAnderson Kill & Olick, P.C. practices law in the areas of Insurance Recovery, Anti-Counterfeiting, Bankruptcy, Commercial Litigation, Corporate & Securities, Employment & Labor Law, Real Estate & Construction, Tax, and Trusts & Estates. Best-known for its work in insurance recovery, the firm represents policyholders only in insurance coverage disputes, with no ties to insurance companies and no conflicts of interest.  Clients include Fortune 1000 companies, small and medium-sized businesses, governmental entities, and nonprofits as well as personal estates. Based in New York City, the firm also has offices in Greenwich, CT, Newark, NJ, Philadelphia, PA, Ventura, CA and Washington, DC. For companies seeking to do business internationally, Anderson Kill, through its membership in Interleges, a consortium of similar law firms in some 20 countries, assures the same high quality of service throughout the world that it provides itself here in the United States.For more information, please contact:Carol UeckermanCommunications/Marketing Managercueckerman@andersonkill.com(212) 278-1339