Stuart Saft

Veteran attorney Stuart Saft will join the law firm of Holland & Knight after resigning this afternoon as head of the global real estate practice at Dewey & LeBoeuf, The Real Deal has learned. Saft will begin his new position tomorrow as co-chair of Holland & Knight’s New York real estate practice, sharing the duties with existing real estate leader Martin “Marty” Miner, who leads a team of about a dozen lawyers there.

“Stuart’s one of the preeminent real estate practitioners in New York,” Miner told The Real Deal. “He’s just a great addition to our group.” [more]

Stuart Saft, chairman of Dewey’s real estate division

Greenberg Traurig has ended talks on a possible deal to rescue law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf as it faces a possible bankruptcy filing this coming week and an investigation by the New York district attorney’s office.

International law firm Greenberg Traurig was seen as the best chance of saving Dewey from a bankruptcy filing or even the dissolution of the firm, while it races to negotiate an extension with lenders, including Citigroup, HSBC, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase, on a $100 million line of credit. [more]

From the April issue: Stuart Saft is a partner at law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf and chair of the firm’s global real estate department. One of the country’s leading commercial and residential real estate lawyers, he’s been elected to the American College of Real Estate Lawyers and listed in “Who’s Who in America,” “Who’s Who in American Law” and “Who’s Who in the World.” Handling financial syndication, sale-leasebacks and the acquisition and sale of residential, commercial and hospitality properties, he has represented developers like Swig Equities at the Sheffield, the Feil Organization at the Apthorp and the Moinian Group at the W Downtown Hotel and Residences. [more]

Stuart Saft, head of the real estate practice at Dewey & Leboeuf

Dewey & Leboeuf, a law firm with one of the city’s largest real estate practices, responded to the many news reports of financial and personnel trouble at the organization today by assuring clients that the real estate practice is largely unaffected.

An email today from Stuart Saft, partner and chair of the real estate department at Dewey, to his clients, obtained by The Real Deal, said that “none of the real estate partners are involved, none of the disaffected partners are real estate partners and none of the disaffected partners nor their staffs ever performed any work for the real estate department’s clients.” [more]

Stuart Saft

A massive law firm with one of the largest real estate practices in the city, Dewey & Leboeuf, is facing financial distress, that the New York Times attributed to the changing structure of big law firms.

The firm, whose real estate division is headed by Stuart Saft, cut 5 percent of its lawyers and 6 percent of its staff, 19 of its 300 partners have left since January and 12 more are expected to leave. [more]

From left: Stuart Saft of Dewey & LeBoeuf', Diane Ramirez, president of Halstead Property, Andrew Berman, director of the Center for Real Estate Studies at New York Law School, Jonathan Miller, CEO of Miller Samuel, and Lockhart Steele, founder of Curbed

Why aren’t more people buying residential real estate? That was a question posed today by Jonathan Miller, CEO of the appraisal firm Miller Samuel, at the third annual breakfast forum organized by the New York Law School’s Center for Real Estate Studies.

Miller was one of four industry experts — along with Stuart Saft, chair of Dewey & LeBoeuf’s real estate department; Diane Ramirez, president of Halstead Property; and Lockhart Steele, founder of the blog Curbed — asked to whip out their crystal balls to discuss the future of New York City real estate at the law school’s campus at 185 West Broadway in Tribeca. [more]

From left: Donald Trump, president of the Trump Organization, Dottie Herman, president of Prudential Douglas Elliman, Elizabeth Stribling, president of Stribling & Associates, Stuart Saft, chairman of Dewey & LeBoeuf’s global real estate department, and Frederick Peters, president of Warburg Realty Partnership, and Lois Weiss, real estate columnist for the New York Post

Compiled by Lauren Elkies

In the wake of Sandy Weill’s reported $88 million sale of his 15 Central Park West penthouse, The Real Deal wanted to touch base and see if real estate executives had any last minute predictions for the New Year since speaking with the magazine for the December residential market report.

Dottie Herman, president of Prudential Douglas Elliman, and Frederick Peters, president of Warburg Realty Partnership, said to expect 2012 to be a bit of a repeat of 2011, while developer Donald Trump said “really good real estate will have excess value.” Elizabeth Stribling, president of Stribling & Associates, predicts a “continuing strong demand for new condominium offerings all over town,” while Stuart Saft, chairman of Dewey & LeBoeuf’s global real estate department, said “the euro will continue to be in trouble causing a flight to safety to the U.S. and particularly New York City, so New York City properties will trade at even lower cap rates.” Meanwhile, Citi Habitats President Gary Malin and Halstead Property Development Marketing President Stephen Kliegerman recently told amNY that 2012 would bring more development and fewer amenities to New York City’s real estate market. [more]

At The Real Deal‘s seventh annual forum last week’s at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall, real estate pros gathered to watch debates between real estate attorneys Adam Leitman Bailey of the eponymous firm and Stuart Saft, chair of law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf’s global real estate department; developer Billy Macklowe of William Macklowe Company and John Catsimatidis, CEO of the Red Apple Group; and Frederick Peters, president of Warburg Realty, and Lockhart Steele, founder of Curbed. In attendance were Faith Hope Consolo, chairman of Prudential Douglas Elliman’s retail leasing and sales division, Jonathan Miller, president of appraisal firm Miller Samuel and Andrew Barrocas, CEO of brokerage MNS, all of whom stepped outside to talk to The Real Deal about the state of the market (see video above). — Katherine Clarke

[more]

Steven BaumBig changes could be coming to the New York State foreclosure process now that law firm Steven J. Baum, which handled about two out of every five foreclosure cases in the state, has shuttered, the International Business Times said.

Baum announced it was closing yesterday, after being investigated by the U.S. District Attorney and blacklisted by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for allegedly mishandling foreclosure documents. The firm also generated controversy when photos of employees dressed as foreclosure victims were recently published in the New York Times. [more]

Is it any wonder that two litigators stole the show at The Real Deal’s seventh annual forum, which was structured as a debate between three sets of real estate professionals? (See a few photos from the forum above and look for the December issue for more.) Attorney Adam Leitman Bailey of the eponymous firm and Stuart Saft, chair of the real estate department at Dewey & LeBoeuf, faced off on whether litigation is harming New York City real estate — an animated discussion that had Bailey angling to settle a dispute with Saft from the podium (for a client with cancer) and Saft accusing Bailey of hurting the city with his tactics.

“When you litigate without thinking of the consequences and the macro [effects], it hurts the city of New York,” Saft said. [more]