Meet your instructor…
Until we go viral and can hire more teachers, I am your instructor here on the Tenant Learning Platform, Michelle Itkowitz. I am also a co-founder of Tenant Learning Platform.
I have been a landlord and tenant litigator in NYC for twenty-five years. I represent tenants and landlords in residential and commercial landlord and tenant disputes.
I have always marketed my law practice via content marketing; I never advertise. I write articles about landlord and tenant law in the City of New York and get them out there any way I can. In 2017 and 2018, I had 21 speaking engagements on landlord and tenant law; 14 of those lectures were accredited Continuing Education classes where I taught other lawyers and appraisers about landlord and tenant law in New York City. In 2020, I did a ton of teaching about tenant’s rights during the Pandemic. In 2021-2022, I became one of three co-authors of the New York State Bar Association’s nearly 500-page treatise New York Residential Landlord-Tenant Law and Procedure.
Because I have so much content out there, hundreds of residential tenants started finding me and I realized how desperately tenants need accurate and actionable information about their legal rights. It struck me that many people do not so much need a lawyer to get them out of trouble, as they need good information to keep them out of trouble. But to stay out of trouble, you need the right information. And the right information isn’t always a short or simple story in a city of almost nine million people.
I have a very small law firm and cannot be everyone’s lawyer. Via the Tenant Learning Platform, however, I can be many people’s teacher. Using Tenant Learning Platform, I can teach tenants, just as I teach lawyers and real estate professionals. In fact, the classes that I have created on this platform are much more in-depth than anything I have taught to any other group or organization.
Because I am a lawyer, and the founder of my eponymous law firm, I am ethically obligated to say that this is legal advertising. But…this isn’t really legal advertising. If it is legal advertising, it’s terrible – because I am begging you NOT to contact me! In fact, there is no contact information for me anywhere on the Tenant Learning Platform site! If you wish to contact Tenant Learning Platform with general questions or comments (not questions about your particular legal situation) then use this email [email protected].
Hey, I am trying something new here, and hopefully it will help some New Yorkers and I will at least make my investment back. People take online classes to learn to code, to learn to decorate cakes, to learn to take better digital photographs, or to learn to perfect their yoga hand mudras. You can take an online class for almost anything these days. Why not take a class that helps you learn about your rights and responsibilities in a specific area concerning your apartment?
Look, NYC Tenants – the law belongs to you. This is your city, and these are your laws. Your ownership of the law, however, is only as great as your understanding of the law. So, let’s start our journey together…to learn, to live better!
