From the September issue: In 2009, the landscape was bleak for New York City real estate lawyers.
Many of the big firms tried shifting people between departments to deal with the slowdown in real estate business caused by the economic downturn. Then, they let people go through attrition, and even outright layoffs. But it still wasn’t enough, lawyers said.
“When we were at our smallest, we still weren’t as busy as we’d like to be,” said Robert Ivanhoe, chairman of the New York office and the global real estate practice at Greenberg Traurig. “Even after the downsizing, we weren’t at capacity.”
Ivanhoe, though, was happy to be speaking in the past tense. In the last six months, he said, Greenberg Traurig’s New York real estate practice has increasingly focused on transactions, rather than the debt restructuring work that his and other firms fell back on to keep busy in the lean years.
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Harris Beach, a law firm that works with commercial real estate developers, among other clients, has opened a new office on Long Island in Uniondale. The more than 150-year-old law firm, ranked one of the top 250 in the country, has several offices scattered throughout the New York City metropolitan region, including White Plains, Yonkers, Newark and New Haven. [more]

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From the April issue: Everyone knows it’s been a tough year for developers and brokers. But it’s also been a difficult economic stretch for the lawyers who represent them. While New York City’s real estate lawyers may no longer be drafting legal documents for building sales and new condo projects, they are busy working on other things, including loan workouts, bankruptcies and litigation with lenders. This month, The Real Deal ranked the New York City law firms with the biggest real estate practices. Topping the list was Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson with 60 real estate lawyers — nearly 20 percent of the 309 lawyers in their New York offices.

Phil Rosen of Weil Gotshal & Manges in his office in the GM Building.

From the November issue:
If you happen to take the Van Wyck Expressway to work, you might have seen it for yourself one morning during rush hour last year: In the breakdown lane a few miles past John F. Kennedy International Airport, an amiable-looking man with closely cropped curls, round glasses and a well-tailored suit sat in his black Lexus LS, gesticulating angrily and screaming into a cell phone. That man was Phil Rosen, co-head of Weil Gotshal & Manges’ real estate practice; he was trying to save a client from probable ruin. On the other end of the line: A team of attorneys representing creditors. In the wee hours of the morning, they had agreed to multiple restructurings after two days of around-the-clock negotiations. Now, just hours later, the attorneys on the other side wanted out. “This is the deal,” Rosen, 53, yelled. “You can’t re-trade or you’ll end up with nothing.” He continued: “This is the deal — it will not change.” It was a high-stakes, emergency roadside rescue job. And, after an hour and a half, Rosen prevailed. more

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