Klehr Harrison Harvey Branzburg LLP

Hercules Grigos

Herc is a co-chair of the Real Estate and Finance Department. He represents some of the largest and most complex projects in the region. He focuses his practice on real estate development, particularly on zoning and land use, including handling permits, zoning approvals, land development, acquisitions, financing and leasing. Herc is especially adept at guiding real estate deals with building new properties, from navigating the municipal process and acquisition through the entitlement, financing and construction process, and, finally, through leasing and disposition. Herc is a trusted advocate and counselor to his clients and has distinguished himself as an attorney who gets deals done. Herc was previously a partner at a mid-sized regional law firm and served as an assistant city solicitor for the City of Philadelphia Law Department, focusing on code enforcement, finance, contracts and real estate. This experience enabled him to excel in administrative law and land use matters.

Alexandra Hill

Alex focuses her practice on many aspects of commercial real estate and investment. She has extensive experience representing owners, developers, investors and lenders in the origination, acquisition and disposition (including securitization and syndication) of mortgage loans, mezzanine financings and subordinate debt, post-closing modifications and loan sales and purchases involving various asset classes including multifamily, industrial, retail, self-storage, office and hospitality properties. In addition, Alex has significant experience with C-PACE financing, construction financing and ground lease transactions.

Brad Krouse

Brad is the managing partner of the firm and previously served as the chair of the real estate and finance department for 19 years, building it into one of the strongest in the region. In addition to his practice and his role as managing partner, Brad is a member of the firm’s executive committee that manages and oversees the firm. Brad represents many of the region’s most prominent real estate developers, owners, investors and private equity companies. He serves his clients in multiple roles as a strategic counselor, advisor and dealmaker, and his practice includes a full range of real estate services, including acquisitions, sales, leasing, and financing and development for a wide array of clients such as student housing, apartment and office building developers and owners and private equity funds. Brad’s areas of particular expertise include large-scale national multi-state, multi-property portfolio transactions and sale-leasebacks.

Heather Levine

Heather represents local and national developers and investors in the acquisition, development, redevelopment, disposition, financing, and refinancing of various real estate asset classes throughout the United States, including office, apartment, student housing, hotel, retail and residential. Heather advises her clients on structuring and negotiating complex loan transactions, from origination to restructuring and work out of loans. She also has experience working on mortgage and mezzanine construction, bridge, balance sheet, agency, historic tax credit and securitized financings and preferred equity investments. In addition, Heather negotiates joint venture arrangements in connection with her representation of developers and investors.

Jonathan Maslow

Jonathan is a co-chair of the Real Estate and Finance Department. He represents equity investors, owners and developers in commercial real estate transactions, including entity, asset and portfolio company acquisitions and dispositions, office and retail leasing, sale-leasebacks and financings. Some of Jonathan’s significant representations include: Represented a multi-family property development company in the sale of two residential apartment buildings, each valued at more than $20 million, and with each transaction structured as an entity purchase agreement. In addition to negotiating the interest purchase agreement and ancillary transaction documents, the representation included substantial negotiation regarding the scope of non-imputation indemnifications required by the purchaser’s title insurance carrier. Represented a national student housing provider in the acquisition of a 219-unit scattered site apartment portfolio for $31 million and four separate multi-parcel assemblage acquisitions. Represented a national real estate developer and investor in the purchase of a $44 million interest in an existing development project, with the transaction structured as an entity purchase and recapitalization. Acted as real estate counsel for a private equity firm in the acquisition of substantially all of the assets of a leading convenience store business in the Midwest. The transaction involved the acquisition of a portfolio of approximately 150 owned and leased convenience stores and the simultaneous sale-leaseback of approximately 90 of the acquired stores in separate master leases.

William Matthews

Bill is co-chair of the Corporate and Securities Department. He concentrates his practice in securities, mergers and acquisitions and general corporate counseling for a wide range of clients, from family-owned businesses to emerging growth businesses to public companies. In addition, Bill frequently acts as “outside general counsel” to his clients, representing them on all corporate and financial matters and coordinating other legal issues, ranging from litigation to intellectual property to regulatory matters. He regularly reviews agreements, negotiates employment matters and advises on litigation and regulatory issues. Bill is also Chair of the firm’s Education practice group and counsels colleges, universities and other entities in education on numerous matters. In the area of securities, Bill represents clients in matters before the SEC, providing particular skill in Exchange Act compliance matters, and has experience with Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank Act compliance and related regulatory matters. A significant part of his practice includes the representation of individuals, funds and issuers in connection with equity investments in emerging growth companies. Bill’s merger and acquisition experience is significant, having participated in numerous purchases and sales of companies, both public and private, in transactions structured as asset sales, stock sales and mergers. These deals have ranged in size from several million dollars to multi-billion-dollar mergers. Bill has closed over 50 transactions in the past five years. Daniel Kaufman, former Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer at Game Stop, described Bill as a “responsive, capable, very bright lawyer who understands what the company needs, and gives us 110 percent all the time.” He also co-chairs the franchise & licensing industry group and is a member of the retail, restaurants and hospitality industry group.

Matthew McDonald

Matt is co-chair of the Corporate and Securities Department. Matt’s broad-based legal skills have been honed through both private practice and in-house positions. While his practice focuses on advising clients on mergers and acquisitions, investments, securities compliance and corporate governance, he also has extensive experience in contract drafting and negotiation, litigation management, regulatory compliance and HR legal support. Matt has extensive experience representing startup entities with corporate formation including, capital structure, restricted stock/employee incentive plans, fundraising and more. Prior to joining the firm, Matt served as Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at GAIN Capital Holdings, Inc., a NYSE-listed provider of foreign exchange and over-the-counter derivative trading services. As Deputy General Counsel, Matt was primarily responsible for all legal matters at GAIN Capital, such as the drafting and negotiation of a variety of stock and asset purchase agreements, stockholder agreements and operating agreements, as well as securities reporting, litigation management and corporate financings, including revolving credit facilities and the private issuance of convertible senior notes. Matt’s in-house experience gives him a practical perspective and allows him to provide insight into what is truly important when advising business executives and other clients.

Ronald Patterson

Ron is the chair of the zoning and land use practice group. His practice concentrates on zoning and land use matters, as well as on other land use and environmental regulatory, permitting and counseling issues. Ron deals directly with obtaining all of the necessary zoning, use, building and other development-related permits and approvals from the relevant City agencies that enable a person to build or renovate a building, and operate a business. He meets with and obtains comments and approvals from various City agencies, including Licenses & Inspections, the Planning Commission, Streets Department, Water Department, Redevelopment Authority, PIDC, Historical Commission, Art Commission, Zoning Board of Adjustment and other City departments. He also interacts directly with local community groups and elected officials to gain their support or to eliminate opposition to a proposed project. Once zoning approvals are obtained, he assists in filing for and obtaining other necessary building-related permits, operational licenses, and available 10-year real estate tax abatements. Ron has extensive experience handling complex developments in Philadelphia, including those projects that are subject to SP-INS Zoning Districts that require Major Master Plan amendments. Ron has an engineering degree and worked at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, better enabling him to work closely with architects, engineers and construction professionals in order to understand, tailor and modify the necessary plans that comprise the applications, permits and approvals. He is also experienced in reviewing and coordinating preliminary environmental investigations and remediation programs. Ron is a board member of Building Industry Association of Philadelphia, member of the Packer Park Civic Association, Executive Board, a founding member of the Penrose Area Civic Association that covers most of southwest Philadelphia, and a former member of the Zoning and Business Development Subcommittee of the former Eastwick PAC that oversaw development in the Eastwick/Southwest Philadelphia Area pursuant to the federal Eastwick Urban Renewal Plan of 1956. In addition, he is counsel to two Democratic Wards in Southwest Philadelphia. He also served on Mayor Michael Nutter’s Administration’s Subcommittee on Zoning Board Policy.