W. Stephen Wilson > Withers Bergman LLP > San Diego, United States > Lawyer Profile

W. Stephen Wilson

Work Department

Real Estate

Position

Partner

Career

Steve Wilson has 46 years of continuous experience in transactional real estate law.

He also has substantial experience in corporate, general business and non-profit law. He has held the esteemed Martindale-Hubbell “AV” (“preeminent”) peer designation for many years.

In the superheated West Coast real estate environment, he augments his technical knowledge by providing the business judgment and perspective that a seasoned institutional real estate executive would provide. Much of his current professional focus is on complex, value-added urban mixed-use projects and joint ventures, with recent focus on project planning in Qualified Opportunity Zones. Another and longtime focus is assisting nonprofit or charitable organizations (including religious organizations) seeking to monetize their land holdings in a way which incorporates a charitable or public benefit. Steve’s clients routinely comment that he is “their other partner”.

Other significant capabilities include real estate tax issues, entity formation/asset management for portfolio owners, restructuring and securitization of holdings, entitlement work, purchases and sales, commercial leasing and title matters. Many clients are offshore investors who benefit greatly from his guidance. In the corporate and general business realm, he has successfully handled numerous mid-market merger and acquisition transactions as well as formation and capitalization advice for many start-up and growth stage companies.

Steve has been an expert witness in two recent, significant jury trials involving real estate issues. In the recent past, he advised a major state-controlled Vietnamese bank in its successful first business venture in the U.S, advised the country’s national airline and advised a PRC state-owned real estate investment entity.

Steve has traveled widely on business in Asia, and for 10 years led post-Perestroika humanitarian orphanage support work in the Ryazan region of CIS. His humanitarian endeavors have also included Africa and South America. In 2013, he lectured Chambers of Commerce throughout Indonesia on trade with the US. In 2017, he was a member of the San Francisco Mayor’s economic and trade delegation to Vietnam.

Memberships

Stanford Professionals in Real Estate (formation team, charter member)

Board Member, Asian Pacific American Heritage (APAH)

Foundation Board Member, HealthRight 360 Foundation

San Francisco Bar Association and Real Property Section

California Bar AssociationCalifornia Lawyers Association and Real Property Section

Chairman, Board of Trustees, Community United Methodist Church of Half Moon Bay

Rotary International

Education

Stanford University, B.A.

University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law, J.D.