Joshua Babbitt
Former Paul, Weiss Associate, Real Estate
New York University School of Law, 2005
"I came here specifically to do Real Estate. I love it because it's tangible. You can walk down the street and see a building and think, 'My client bought that,' or 'My client sold that." And I've even worked on a couple of buildings that are right near where I live. The other day I walked past one going up and it's five stories tall and still getting taller, and I thought, 'My group did the mortgage that allowed them to build that building.' At the end of the day I've got more than some paper to show for my work – there's a new building where there wasn't one before, and I was involved in making it happen.
What's great about Paul, Weiss is that you have all the resources of a big firm but you also have the intimacy of being in small group with people who know you and feel like a family. We've got five partners in our group, and I get to work with all of them. On a given day, I will work with two or three of them on a variety of deals, and I learn different things from each of them. And it's a great group of people – they're all very professional, take their work seriously and really try to teach you and make you a better lawyer.
Our Real Estate Department works on all types of deals and every aspect of a deal. It helps you strike a great balance. On the one hand, you'll see enough different types of work that you'll never get bored. I do financing, I do M&A, I buy properties, I craft leases, I work on development – pretty much anything that touches on real estate. On the other hand, because the department is small, it's usually just you and a partner on a deal. So you develop close relationships with the partners and the clients. You get repeat business, and you work at a higher level than you might as an associate elsewhere. After only six months here I was negotiating across from partners at other firms."
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Real Estate
Do you aspire to work in an independent, full-service real estate practice — a practice that does more than assist in corporate deals? Do you want to be directly engaged in ground-breaking work – work that matters, for clients whom you know and work with closely?
From investment agreements and development projects to debt restructuring and joint venture disputes, Paul Weiss's real estate practice works on the cutting edge of every facet of the real estate industry. An extraordinary range of clients seek us out because we are real estate business advisers, offering our clients hybrid business and legal solutions. And because we counsel many different types of clients, from large financial institutions to private equity investors, these solutions demand considerable skill, flexibility and creativity from our lawyers.
Our Real Estate Department is the perfect forum for enterprising lawyers who welcome the opportunity to manage their own work and want the opportunity to deal directly with clients. Our department relies on tight-knit, collaborative approaches that fully involve associates in the details of each transaction.
Our Real Estate Department values creativity, independence and drive. There’s no better place to learn your craft and develop your skills.
FACTS AT A GLANCE
Sophisticated/Complex Transactions: Our clients are well known in national/international real estate and business communities, and involve us in their most complex, high-profile transactions, including major acquisitions, sales, developments and financings of large-scale projects throughout the United States and overseas. These multifaceted projects allow us to serve a diverse group of clients, some of which include Allied Partners, Apollo Real Estate Advisors, AvalonBay Communities Inc., GMAC Commercial Mortgage Corporation, Las Vegas Sands Corp., Lincoln Center Theater, MeriStar Hotel Corporation, the Metropolitan Transit Authority, Murray Hill Properties, Muss Development Company, Oaktree Capital, Rockefeller Group Development Corporation and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.
Local Community Impact: The projects we undertake truly improve and revitalize the New York City landscape and surrounding regions. Our projects facilitate growth and expansion, often stimulating economic activity.
Broad International Practice: We take pride in an extensive real estate practice representing American and European investors in overseas ownership and development joint ventures, and international investors in U.S. properties. Our practice is supported by our offices in London, Hong Kong and Tokyo, and an extensive international network of “relationship” firms.
Well-Rounded Experience: Sophisticated and complex projects demand a breadth of experience from each of our team members. Our real estate associates are actively engaged in a variety of transactions and deals at any given time.
Assignments: Our low associate-to-partner ratio gives our associates the ability to work one-on-one with partners and senior lawyers; we’re a tight-knit group that works together as a team.
Pro Bono: Our real estate lawyers represent a vast array of nonprofit organizations in innovative projects that strive to improve and assist New York City communities. We work with community organizations throughout the city in developing thousands of units of affordable and special needs housing. We represent nonprofit cultural organizations in the theater, dance, visual arts and poetry communities as they locate and develop space for their activities and events. We represent established and start-up nonprofit institutions in creating New York headquarters and in assisting their advocacy activities on behalf of open space, environmental, landmarks and community development issues.
Headline Projects
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Representing the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in connection with the sale of the air rights for development over its West Side railyards.
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Representing GMAC Commercial Mortgage Corporation in its $320-million construction loan in the joint venture developing the new headquarters building for The New York Times. The joint venture consists of affiliates of The New York Times Company and Forest City Ratner.
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Advising GMAC Commercial Mortgage Corporation on its construction financing and subsequent restructuring of Time Warner Center in New York City, a $2-billion mixed-use development.
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Representing Las Vegas Sands Inc., the owner and operator of the Venetian Casino and Resort and the Sands Expo and Convention Center, in connection with a $250-million construction loan facility.
Industry Recognition
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Two of our real estate partners were recognized among the 50 most influential members of the real estate industry by Real Estate Weekly.
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Our partners are recognized as leading real estate lawyers in New York City and the United States in Chambers USA and other peer review publications.
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