John J. Maalouf, Esq.

John Maalouf ….  New York Lawyer

(Note: this article is from the sept 2006 of Mensa International.  Mensa is the “High IQ Society”, to qualify an individual must have an IQ in the top 2% of the world population).

John was born in Boston, Massachusetts and relocated to New York in 1994 after completing his LL.M. in International Banking and Financial Services Law from Boston University School of Law.  John’s wife Alice is also a member of Mensa and they have four wonderful children (future Mensans) two girls and two boys. 

During his school days, John had a keen interest in physics, and discovered that time does indeed move more slowly when faced with mindless busywork. Unfortunately, like many Mensans, his primary and high school’s curriculum focused extensively on memorizing and regurgitating facts and put little value on creative intelligent thinking.  John attended college at Boston University, studying physics and economics and developing interest in Taoism, Buddhism and the martial arts.

While in law school, John took up sky-diving and hang gliding to help alleviate some of the boredom associated with his required classes.  According to John, “If at first you don’t succeed, sky-diving probably isn’t for you”.  After graduating law school and entering the workplace, John was pleased to find out that the ability to think creatively and to see solutions that others could not was valued by a fair segment of the business world.  He worked at a large law firms, rising through the ranks and focused his legal practice on financial law, which he found the most interesting.

After several years, John became recognized as an expert in the area of international finance, trade, banking and corporate law, and has represented clients in numerous high profile matters involving international trade finance, IPO’s, M&A’s director and officer liability, international banking, and foreign investment in China.  His cases have been featured on American television programs 60 minutes and 20/20 as well as CNN and in the Wall Street Journal.

Most recently, the Unites States Lawyer Rankings for the year 2006 were released and John ranked #5 in the United States in the area of “International Trade and Finance Lawyers”.  What John enjoys most about his practice of law is being approached by clients with a complicated matter which other firms have stated “can’t be done” and is “impossible”, and then finding a new and creative way to make it happen.

When John is not practicing law or spending time with his family, he enjoys practicing martial arts, studying traditional Shaolin Kung-Fu with 34^th generational monks from the Shaolin Temple of Henan Province, China, who relocated to New York many years ago.

John joined Mensa for the intellectual stimulation it provides and enjoys interacting with fellow Mensans, whether over a game of 3-dimensional chess or for a friendly discussion regarding world economics. 

Mr. Maalouf has recently expanded the firm and added another office in China. You can visit John’s website at www.maalouf.us.