US > Real estate and construction > Nevada
Index of tables
Nevada
Leading lawyers
-
- Michael Buckley, Jones Vargas ‘Remarkably skilled’
- Jeffrey Zucker, Lionel Sawyer & Collins ‘Second-to-none for high-profile transactional work’
- Karen Dennison, Holland & Hart ‘Simply amazing’
Now that much of the financing has dried up on major residential and commercial projects, many developers are seeking to offload deals and renege on commitments. The hospitality sector and even the former stalwart gaming industry have been badly rocked, with leading gaming companies placing the construction of new casinos in Las Vegas indefinitely on hold.
With their client bases in such trouble, it is the diversely structured law firms that are weathering the storm best, namely those practices not restricted to purely transactional work or property financings, and that can pick up real estate litigation, property company restructurings and bankruptcy-related real estate work. A period of consolidation amongst surviving law firms is expected, with Rocky Mountain law firm Holland & Hart LLP already having absorbed Reno law practice Hale Lane Peek Dennison & Howard.
PRACTICE: Las Vegas-based Jones Vargas remains a ‘second-to-none practice’ for clients looking for ‘integrated expertise’ in transactional real estate, property finance, zoning issues and governmental matters. The hospitality industry has been hit by the crisis, but the practice’s breadth of talents and ‘excellent contacts’ with leading financial institutions and local authorities stand the team in good stead. The team is especially recommended for its work on high-rise condominiums and master planned communities, in addition to gaming matters.
CLIENTS: Developers, municipal authorities, utility companies, REITS, banks and hospitality clients continue to dominate the practice’s client base, including Golden Gaming, Nevada Power Company, Sierra Pacific Power Company, Pacific West Builders and Wells Fargo Bank.
INDIVIDUALS: The ‘remarkably skilled’ Michael Buckley focuses on high-rise condominiums and master planned communities, and provides solid experience in projects requiring UCC secured financing. ‘Superb Reno real estate lawyer’ William Davis acts for clients such as Trammell Crow and the Juliet Companies. Richard Barrier is recommended for his experience within the hospitality, gaming, and trade show/event industries.
PRACTICE: Lionel Sawyer & Collins stands out for its successful alignment of real estate work with its corporate and finance practice areas. ‘It can handle any kind of legal need’, state clients. The practice has strong contacts with large banks, and has a solid reputation within the Las Vegas hospitality scene. Examples of work include acting for Deutsche Bank on the huge foreclosure of the Nevada Cosmopolitan Hotel, and acting as Nevada counsel to Credit Suisse Group on a loan relating to the $625m acquisition of 60.5 acres of vacant land in Las Vegas.
CLIENTS: The list includes global financial institutions operating within the Nevada market, such as Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse, in addition to Bank of America and Bank of Nevada. Instructions frequently come in from important Nevada industries such as healthcare and hospitality, as well as gaming clients like Cantor Gaming and Boyd Gaming Corporation.
INDIVIDUALS: Las Vegas-based Jeffrey Zucker is consistently called on for high-profile transactional real estate work. Mark Goldstein stands out for his work with Nevada companies concerning the ownership of property used for hotels and casinos, as well as for his strong record in leasing and transactional work. The ‘excellent’ Matthew Watson is recommended for real estate financings, acquisitions and dispositions, and ‘for getting the deal done without becoming too legalistic’.
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP
PRACTICE: Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP’s attorneys are ‘highly creative, and possessed of great breadth and adaptability. They are great, both for theory and practical issues’. The practice’s workload typically takes in developments, acquisitions, financing, stadiums, retail leasing and REITS, and they are especially known for hospitality and gaming-related transactions. Representative local experience includes advising Icahn Associates in the $1.3bn sale of its membership interests in American Casino and Entertainment Properties, acting for development company Steve Johnson Development in its $47m land purchase in Nevada, advising on the sale of the Sahara Hotel & Casino, the Golden Nugget Las Vegas, Golden Nugget Laughlin and the Lady Luck Casino Hotel, and negotiating a development agreement with the City of Las Vegas for the design, construction and operation of the Las Vegas Performing Arts Center.
CLIENTS: As to be expected from a full-service law firm, the practice acts for a range of owners, investors, developers, lenders, operators, franchisors and franchisees, as well as some of the country’s largest REITs. MGM Mirage, Station Casinos, Sierra Health Services, Royal Palm Homes, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, and Pinnacle Entertainment are all clients.
INDIVIDUALS: Shai Halbe focuses on hospitality assets, and has served as lead counsel on complex transactions in a plethora of cross-border deals. With more than 45 years of legal experience, of-counsel Leslie Terry Jones represented Stephen A Wynn in the purchase of the Desert Inn Hotel and Golf Course, and is local real estate counsel in financing transactions for Wynn Resorts. Angela Otto’s recent transactions include the acquisition financing of Harrah’s Entertainment, and real estate acquisitions for Station Casinos.
PRACTICE: Rocky Mountain law firm Holland & Hart LLP has merged with Reno law firm Hale Lane Peek Dennison & Howard, with the Reno office now benefiting from access to an extended group of construction and property litigation attorneys. The newly-merged entity gets involved in almost every type of real estate transaction, including leasing, sales, acquisitions, financing and development work, multi-family homes, the development of hospitals, and property litigation. The practice prepares and enforces covenants for property owners’ associations, acts for one of the nation’s largest real estate investment trusts, and was lead counsel to the developer of a Strip high-rise, mixed-use condominium project in its acquisition of construction financing.
CLIENTS: The list includes land developers, pension funds, institutional clients, homebuilding companies, resort developers, mixed-use project owners, and commercial landlords. Shea Homes, the country’s largest privately-owned homebuilder, is a client.
INDIVIDUALS: Chair Marcus Painter has worked extensively on real estate brokerage industry issues, and is noted for his work in golf course community development work. The ‘simply amazing’ Reno lawyer Karen Dennison has represented owners and lenders in time share developments, shopping centers, office buildings and power plant facilities, and has worked closely with the Nevada Real Estate Division and other governmental and administrative agencies. Craig Howard is especially well-regarded for his experience in water projects, including large water rights transfers and water rights acquisitions and sales. In Las Vegas, Bradley Boodt acts in commercial real estate acquisitions, financing and development, and advised the purchaser in the acquisition and financing of the highest priced land acquisition in Las Vegas history.
PRACTICE: Business and commercial real estate boutique Goold Patterson Ales & Day ‘covers a lot of ground notwithstanding its size’. The practice has advised on buy-sell agreements for commercial buildings, retail space leases, financings, covenants and restrictions relating to condominiums, and litigation, and it has drafted hundreds of leases for office, commercial and industrial real estate tenancies.
CLIENTS: A broad range of clients are listed, including developers, investors, lenders, owners, landlords, tenants, buyers and sellers, national homebuilders, residential and commercial developers, landlords and tenants.
INDIVIDUALS: Founding partner Barry Goold is recommended for high-profile commercial real estate purchases and sales, real estate financing transactions, landlord-tenant matters, sales and purchases of businesses, and the performance of construction contracts. Jeffrey Patterson and Kelly Brinkman are both noted for their representation of landlords in bankruptcy matters, while Barney Ales is the resident real estate litigation specialist.
PRACTICE: Full-service business law firm Snell & Wilmer is ‘extremely well-represented’ throughout the whole of the Western United States, and its eighth office recently opened in downtown Los Angeles. The practice provides the full range of transaction and litigation services, and has advised on Brownfield redevelopment projects such as Jordan Village, a 260 acre Superfund site being converted into a residential mixed-use community. In the world of condominiums, the group worked on the Trump International Hotel & Tower deal, a 64-story high-rise hotel tower with 1,284 units, and on the finance side it represented Bank of America in the $125m construction loan for the Collier Center in Downtown Phoenix. The highly-regarded Jim Mace and Mandy Shavinsky have departed the firm.
CLIENTS: The practice’s client base includes national and regional banks, hotel chains, and developers of master-planned communities, and owners of hotels, resorts, and casinos. American Express, T-Mobile USA, Tucson Airport Authority, University of Phoenix and Bank of America are all clients.
INDIVIDUALS: Patricia Curtis can be relied upon for complex real estate transactions, including structuring, development, leasing, acquisition, and loan workout matters, while Jason Kim focuses on representing domestic and foreign companies and high-net-worth individuals in real estate. Stephen Yoken is also recommended.