Prominent Real Estate Group Led by Martin Polevoy to Enhance National Real Estate Practice; Arrivals Signal Piper Rudnick’s Continued Growth in New York and Commitment to the New York Real Estate Market
NEW YORK CITY, January 20 – Piper Rudnick LLP, a leading national law firm with one of the largest Real Estate practices in the country, announced today that highly regarded attorneys Martin Polevoy, Richard Fries, and seven additional lawyers will join its New York office. The new additions overall include five partners and four associates formerly of the New York office of Swidler Berlin Shereff Friedman.
Martin Polevoy, who will become the head of the firm's real estate practice in New York, is a prominent New York real estate attorney, representing some of the largest real estate developers and investors throughout the country. Mr. Polevoy’s highly-regarded practice includes the representation of Lehman Brothers in New York City, including the company’s recent sale of its former headquarters at Three World Financial Center to Brookfield Properties Corporation. He also represented Lehman Brothers in the acquisition of its current world headquarters at 745 Seventh Avenue from Morgan Stanley.
Mr. Polevoy represents the New York Times Company in connection with the development of its new headquarters building in Midtown Manhattan. In addition, he represents several of the country’s most well known families in their real estate investment activities and several prominent real estate funds and advisors, among them Mass Mutual’s affiliate Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers, Inc.
Mr. Polevoy was previously the managing partner of the Manhattan real estate boutique firm Bachner Tally & Polevoy. He is a former member of the Board of Governors of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers, has been elected to the Anglo-American Real Estate Institute, and is listed in the International Who's Who of Real Estate Lawyers.
Richard Fries is well known throughout the New York real estate community. He represents national institutional lenders in distressed loan workouts and restructures, mortgage foreclosures, the origination of commercial real estate loans, asset-based finance, loan participations and syndications, distressed portfolio and asset sales, creditors' rights and insolvency. He has been involved in the foreclosure, workout and financing of permanent and construction loans on hotels, office buildings, healthcare facilities, franchises, apartment buildings, shopping centers and automobile dealerships, among other real estate and business assets. He also represents property owners, developers and contractors in commercial real estate litigation, construction litigation, conveyancing, property management and brokerage claims.
As a member of the executive committee of the Real Property Section of the New York State Bar Association, Mr. Fries has worked in conjunction with the New York Bankers Association in the drafting and passage of the amendment to Article 14 of the Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law to authorize the non-judicial foreclosure of commercial mortgages. He has chaired and lectured at numerous PLI and State and City Bar programs on mortgage foreclosure, real estate workouts and finance over the past several years and has written extensively on real estate and financing cases and subjects.
"Martin Polevoy and Richard Fries are two of the most outstanding members of the New York real estate bar. We are very pleased to welcome them and the rest of the team to our New York office," said Lee Miller, co-chairman of Piper Rudnick LLP. "Their arrival not only signals the continued growth of our New York office, but also adds a significant new element to the firm’s national Real Estate practice that is second to none."
Building on National Real Estate Growth, Local New York Momentum
Mr. Polevoy, Mr. Fries, and their team of highly regarded real estate attorneys come to a firm with an already thriving national Real Estate practice. The additional attorneys will more than double the size of Piper Rudnick’s New York real estate practice and bring a roster of national clients that stand to benefit tremendously from the firm’s national footprint.
"I am particularly pleased to be joining a firm that not only exhibits considerable strengths in every area of real estate law, but also provides my existing clients with a national platform and the deep industry experience that is critical to their evolving business needs," said Mr. Polevoy. "As the legal needs of our clients become more sophisticated, it is increasingly important for us to offer them the national reach and depth that Piper Rudnick offers."
Over the past year, Piper Rudnick has experienced dramatic growth within its national real estate practice and New York office, including:
- The January 2003 addition of over 30 real estate attorneys formerly of Hill & Barlow to the firm’s Boston office
- The February 2003 addition of nationally recognized real estate attorneys Pamela Westhoff and Linda Bozung to the firm’s Los Angeles office
- The July 2003 additions of well known litigators Mark Zauderer, David Nachman, and Jonathan Lupkin to the firm’s New York office
Over the past 12 months, Piper Rudnick has experienced roughly 25 percent growth in the firm’s New York office, increasing from a total of 106 New York attorneys in January 2003 to the office’s current roster of 132. Additional highlights of the firm’s recent national growth include:
- Formation of a strategic alliance with former Defense Secretary William S. Cohen’s international consulting firm, The Cohen Group
- The merger with legal and consulting firm Verner Liipfert Bernhard McPherson and Hand, which brought former Senator and Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell and former Michigan Governor and Ambassador to Canada Jim Blanchard to its partner roster
- The addition of former Congressman and House Majority Leader Dick Armey in January 2003
- The opening of a San Francisco office earlier this month with the addition of 32 lawyers from Steinhart & Falconer.
About the New Attorneys
In addition to Polevoy and Fries, three additional partners and four associates will be coming to Piper Rudnick LLP at the same time. The partners include Alan Linder and Marc Hurel, who will also be joining the Real Estate practice group; and Todd Marcus, who will join the firm as a litigation partner.
Alan Linder has more than 20 years of experience working on a wide variety of commercial real estate and structured financing transactions. He has represented a broad range of clients throughout the country, including developers, pension funds, institutional lenders, owners, borrowers, and real estate equity investors. Mr. Linder is active in acquisitions, sales, development, financings, ground leases, sale-leasebacks, air rights transactions, tax-free exchanges, joint ventures, partnerships, and limited liability companies.
Marc Hurel has more than 15 years of experience working on a wide variety of commercial real estate transactions, representing real estate equity investors and owners, developers, institutional lenders, borrowers, and commercial tenants. He is active in the acquisition, conveyancing, and financing of real property, as well as in significant commercial leasing transactions for both landlords and tenants, in New York and elsewhere in the country.
Todd Marcus is a commercial litigator focusing on complex commercial matters, real estate litigation, and finance-related litigation, including mortgage foreclosures, workouts, and restructures. He represents a number of financial and banking institutions, title insurance companies, real estate brokerage firms, and public and private companies on a variety of commercial matters. Mr. Marcus regularly appears before New York federal and state courts. He has also represented broker-dealers in arbitrations before the New York Stock Exchange and the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. He will join Piper Rudnick LLP’s litigation practice group.
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