At least once a week, Rudy Giuliani — who is prepping for a hearing next month on whether he can keep his New York law license after it was suspended this summer — can lately be found decompressing in the “Sinatra Room.”
It’s not a new bar in the city, but the latest bid by white-shoe law firm Aidala Bertuna & Kamins — which in addition to Giuliani boasts high-profile clients like Alan Dershowitz, Harvey Weinstein and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson — to enable clients, partners and junior associates alike to unwind.
The windowless room at the firm’s posh Midtown offices at 546 Fifth Ave. includes a well-stocked bar, a leather couch, a 65-inch TV with a Sonos surround system, a massage chair and yes — multiple likenesses of Ol’ Blue Eyes hanging on the walls.
“The lounge is not a gimmick,” partner Arthur Aidala told On the Money. “We are all struggling with work-life balance issues right now, and I know a lot of law firms are not coming into the office.”
Installed as part of renovations earlier this year, the Sinatra Room has become a place to take naps and nips alike. The bar, a red Art Deco piece with wheels that was in Aidala’s grandparents’ apartment in the Bronx, is mostly stocked with gifts from clients, including bourbon, gin and Campari — Aidala’s wife Marianne Bertuna’s favorite. A recent photo shows two bottles of Johnnie Walker Blue Label, which retail for upwards of $200 each.
“It’s more of a cocktail environment,” Aidala said, conceding that beer — even the craft variety — is not a priority.
When Guilani or Dershowitz come to the office, Sinatra music is piped into the lounge, Aidala said. Giuliani drops by frequently after a New York court ruled that he made “demonstrably false and misleading statements” while debunking the results of the 2020 election on behalf of former President Trump.
In the case of Dershowitz, Aidala is helping him wage a high-profile battle against fellow legal eagle David Boies. While the latter represented Jeffrey Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre, who has accused Dershowitz of sexual assault, Dershowitz has accused Boies’s firm of “extortion, subornation of perjury and other crimes.”
“If a deposition is getting testy, I’ll bring our client out of the conference room into the lounge, put on some spa music and give them a break,” Aidala said. “And I’ve told my lawyers to go sit in the massage chair for five minutes.”
Other law firms in the city are doubling down on their offices, including Lowenstein Sandler, which added 25,000 square feet for a “new restaurant-style eating space as well as expanded fitness, health and wellness facilities,” the firm announced in September.
At Aidala Bertuna & Kamins, attorneys have been known to hit the lounge and watch movies like “Pulp Fiction” and “The Godfather” on the weekends. The renovation also included converting the men’s and women’s bathrooms into four individual rooms equipped with sensor-operated bidet toilets that have heated seats.
“My biggest regret is that I didn’t install a shower,” Aidala said, referring to nights he and staff have worked into, well, “the wee, small hours of the morning,” as Frank would have put it.
