INTERDISCIPLINARY PRACTICE AREAS

 

In addition to our formal practice groups, we have pooled the diverse expertise of our partners to create the following interdisciplinary practice areas to best meet and serve certain specialized needs of our clients:

Corporate Governance Practice Area: The attorneys in our Corporate Governance Practice Area assist directors, stockholders, creditors and partners to understand their rights and perform their obligations to other stakeholders in a company. Our Corporate Governance Practice Area primarily focuses on compliance with statutory requirements and fiduciary duties, including situations that involve the exercise of control rights, majority decision consent rights, transactions with affiliates and appropriate disclosure to other stakeholders. Although we pride ourselves on resolving governance issues without resorting to adversarial proceedings, occasionally it becomes appropriate for a stakeholder to enforce its rights. We have represented parties on all sides of governance disputes, including boards of directors, a minority group of directors, stockholders, partners and creditors. Although most disputes are centered on specific decisions or transactions, sometimes disputes evolve into efforts by one or more groups to obtain or retain control of the company, and we have experience representing both sides in such disputes.

Private Equity Practice Area: We looked up one day and noticed that a significant portion of our firm's legal work is in the private equity area! This practice area encompasses both corporate and real estate transactions. Indeed, some of our firm's largest clients are private equity investors in both real estate and corporate assets. Routinely, the attorneys in this practice area combine their real estate, corporate and other practice group expertise to work together on transactions in order to provide our clients with comprehensive legal advice in private equity matters and, indeed, a specialty of our firm has become situations in which clients acquire businesses which are mixed real estate/corporate opportunities.

Investment Funds Practice Area: Our Real Estate Practice Group's experience as counsel to opportunistic funds in the real estate area, coupled with our Corporate Practice Group's expertise in representing funds that engage in corporate transactions in the securities of public and private issuers, make the attorneys in this practice area an excellent choice for representing investment funds. Their expertise includes representation of opportunistic, private equity, distressed and other investment funds in transactions involving almost any type of distressed, real estate, corporate or securities assets, both domestically and internationally.

International Practice Area: In recent years, our clients have ventured outside the United States to deploy their capital. These ventures present particular concerns as our clients ultimately want the same legal protections that they enjoy in the United States; however, virtually all foreign jurisdictions have legal intricacies that are different from those of the United States. In addressing this client need, the attorneys in this practice area have developed significant experience in structuring and handling cross-border transactions in various foreign jurisdictions including Asia, Europe and South America. We expect this practice area to continue to grow in the coming years.

Employment Practice Area: The attorneys in our Employment Practice Area represent clients in all types of employment actions including age, race, disability and sex discrimination actions, and in wrongful termination actions. They also counsel clients on a wide range of employment matters including employee discipline and discharge issues, development of employment policies and procedures, negotiation and drafting of employment agreements, and compliance with federal and state employment laws. In addition, they have extensive experience in representing clients on employment matters before the EEOC, state administrative employment agencies and numerous federal courts.

Hotels and Resorts Practice Area: The attorneys in this practice area are experienced in managing transactions and issues involving hospitality and resort properties of all types and price points, including condo-hotels and timeshare developments. Their experience includes acquisitions, dispositions, negotiations of a multitude of hospitality-related agreements including development, franchise, management and operating agreements, lease arrangements, entitlements, financing, and litigation of a broad range of hospitality-related issues. Additionally, they represent our hospitality clients in connection with their associated corporate and real estate matters. Since hospitality transactions, in essence, blend a "corporate" transaction with the principal elements of a "real estate" transaction, our Hotels and Resorts Practice Area melds the skills of our firm's corporate and real estate specialists into a combined group that is quite capable of handling these types of hybrid transactions.

Retail Practice Area: The attorneys in this practice area have built an expertise representing retail parties, especially in insolvency situations. Their experience includes development of a national retail tenant leasing practice (largely through Polo Ralph Lauren, Prada and Kmart), representation of acquirers of leases and other assets in retail bankruptcy cases, in-house experience with a shopping center developer, representation of Channel Homes in the years prior to its insolvency and representation of Kmart Corporation/Sears Holdings in various real estate transactions.

Tax Exempt Real Estate Practice Area: The attorneys in this practice area combine the top-level talent and experience of our vaunted Real Estate Practice Group with the particular expertise of our Tax Exempt Organizations Practice Group in dealing with tax exempt entities (including churches, synagogues and other religious organizations). David Samuels, who chairs our Tax Exempt Organizations Practice Group, was identified by New York Magazine as one of the seven best not-for-profit lawyers in New York City and, to make matters even better, David worked at the New York Attorney General's office as Deputy Chief of the Charities Bureau for eight years handling exactly these types of real estate matters. The combination of one of the best real estate practices in the United States coupled with David's particular expertise with tax exempt entities makes the attorneys in our Tax Exempt Real Estate Practice Area logically the number one choice for any real estate transaction involving a tax exempt organization.


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