Contact Information: CONTACT: Jerry Neuman (213) 617-5563 Ralph Richardson (213) 617-5542
Five Attorney Land Use & Government Advocacy Group Joins Sheppard Mullin Los Angeles
Partner Jerry Neuman Leads Team; Further Expands Firm's Dominant Real Estate Practice
| Source: Sheppard Mullin
LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwire - November 4, 2009) - Jerold B. Neuman and Michael J. Kiely have
joined the Los Angeles/Downtown office of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter &
Hampton LLP as partners in the firm's Real Estate, Land Use and
Environmental practice group. Neuman and Kiely will be joined by a team of
three associates: Alfred Fraijo, Jr., Claudia Gutiérrez and Phillip M.
Tate. The group most recently practiced together with Allen Matkins in Los
Angeles, where Neuman chaired the firm's Land Use and Government Relations
practice group.
"With Jerry, Mike and the group joining us, we continue to grow key
practices like Land Use and Government Advocacy. The team's knowledge and
expertise will significantly enhance and expand our real estate practice,
as well as other practice areas where clients either have real estate
needs, seek to obtain government support or are subject to government
regulation," said Guy Halgren, chairman of the firm.
"I look forward to growing the firm's California land use practice,
specifically in Los Angeles," Neuman said. "Sheppard Mullin is a top-notch
firm with an impressive real estate group and broad base of other practice
areas. I am thrilled to be practicing on such a strong platform with the
firm's great lawyers throughout the state."
"Jerry is considered to be one of the pre-eminent land use and government
law attorneys in Los Angeles. He and the team are an excellent addition to
the firm's Real Estate practice group, which now includes more than 70
attorneys firmwide," commented Domenic Drago, co-chair of the firm's Real
Estate, Land Use and Environmental practice group. "They bring an
incredible collective background, which includes ground-breaking land use
matters and government advocacy."
Neuman's practice is focused on governmental, land use, real estate,
environmental, administrative, and public finance law. The services he
provides range from managing the entire entitlement process, including
overseeing technical consultants and presiding as primary negotiator with
governmental agencies, to reviewing previously negotiated entitlement
documentation with a view towards identifying problem areas which may
affect the timing of the project's development. As Neuman recognizes the
need to find ways of both expediting the process and obtaining governmental
assistance to enhance projects; he has been a key player in negotiating
incentive packages with government agencies who are seeking to increase
their business community and related work force.
Neuman is and has been the lead negotiator and project coordinator for many
of Southern California's most important real estate projects and
governmental procurements, including the Millennium Partners', Capitol
Records proposed 1.2 million square foot development, the multi-module
retail/entertainment center at Hollywood and Highland, the Walt Disney
Company's Grand Central Terminal Corporate Campus, the 110 acre Burbank
Empire Center, the Airbus A380 airport readiness program and Scottish
Powers renewable energy placement efforts.
Kiely's legal practice has spanned all areas of real estate, including
finance, development, and land use. He has extensive experience in
representing developers, sellers and buyers, investors and promoters,
lenders and real estate joint ventures, with a particular emphasis on
projects involving the intersection of private real estate development and
government. Kiely's lending practice has included the representation of
dozens of borrowers in construction loans and permanent financing from
private funds, pensions and governmental lenders. His practice includes a
substantial public/private emphasis, including redevelopment, relocation,
mixed-use and transit-oriented development projects, and public finance,
including tax increment financing, Section 108 loans, Community Development
Block Grants, Economic Development Initiative grants, Brownfield Economic
Development Initiative grants, Mello Roos bond financing and parking, lease
and other types of revenue bonds.
Kiely's representative development matters include the Hollywood & Highland
Project (including the Kodak Theater), the Walt Disney Company's Grand
Central Terminal Project in Glendale, the Del Mar Station mixed use
transit-oriented development in Pasadena, the Blossom Plaza mixed use
transit-oriented development in Chinatown, and the Los Angeles County
Department of Social Services building in South Los Angeles. Kiely
recently completed $114 million of Market Tax Credits financings for
projects ranging from Pacoima to South Los Angeles and a $40 million
financing of the Autumn Terrace Affordable Housing Project in San Marcos.
Neuman received a J.D. from Columbia University School of Law in 1987 and
an undergraduate degree from University of Arizona in 1984. Kiely received
a J.D. from UCLA Law School in 1989 and an undergraduate degree, cum laude,
from Georgetown University in 1986.
Neuman is currently appointed to the State of California's Economic
Strategy Panel in which he currently holds the longest standing seat and
was selected by Mayor Villaraigosa to the Mixed-Income Housing Technical
Advisory Committee for the City of Los Angeles.
In addition to the Neuman/Kiely team, Sheppard Mullin's Real Estate, Land
Use and Environmental practice group has seen a significant number of
lateral attorneys join the firm in recent years. Six months ago, partner
Pam Westhoff joined the firm's Los Angeles/Downtown office with one
associate from DLA Piper in Los Angeles. Last year, Real Estate partners
Geoff Willis and Deborah Rosenthal joined the firm's Orange County office
as part of a team of eight attorneys. In 2007, a San Francisco-based group
of five attorneys led by partners Judy Davidoff and Art Friedman joined
Sheppard Mullin.
Sheppard Mullin has more than 200 attorneys based in its Los Angeles
offices. The firm's Real Estate, Land Use and Environmental practice group
includes more than 70 attorneys firmwide.
Also today, Robert S. Friedman has joined the New York office of Sheppard
Mullin as a partner in the firm's Business Trial practice group and will
serve as head of the firm's litigation practice in New York. Friedman most
recently practiced at Kelley Drye & Warren LLP in New York.
About Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP
Sheppard Mullin is a full service AmLaw 100 firm with 550 attorneys in 11
offices located in the United States and Asia. Since 1927, companies have
turned to Sheppard Mullin to handle corporate and technology matters, high
stakes litigation and complex financial transactions. In the U.S., the
firm's clients include more than half of the Fortune 100. For more
information, please visit www.sheppardmullin.com.