William McCracken will be the featured guest speaker for St. John’s University School of Law’s Mattone Institute for Real Estate Law Speakers Series titled “On The Cornerstones of NYC: One Attorney’s Quest To Document These Historical Memorials Of Our Built Environment” on October 2, 2023  from 5:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.

The cornerstone is conventionally defined as the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation, in relation to which all other stones in the structure are set.  To Bill, they represent something more:  “a public expression of civic pride in the enterprise of building.” Since 2008,  Bill has been on a quest to document, catalogue and photograph these granite “building birth certificates.”  His work has been reported on in publications such as The Wall Street Journal and, most recently, featured as cover art in the New York Real Property Law Journal.

During the program, Bill will address the historical importance of cornerstones, his work on this project for over nearly two decades, and what aspiring real estate attorneys stand to learn from it.

For additional information and registration, visit:  Mattone Institute