Ken Muller > DLA Piper LLP (US) > San Francisco, United States > Lawyer Profile

DLA Piper LLP (US) focuses on public and privately traded REITS from formation, to roll-up transactions, to IPOs. The team is headed from Raleigh by Robert Bergdolt who is active in securities regulations and non-traded REITS, and in a representative matter, led on the $160m merger between Cottonwood Communities and Cottonwood Multifamily REIT. Key partner Darryl Steinhause in San Diego has over three decades of experience handling tax transactions and securities offerings. Other key contacts include co-chair of the real estate group Kerry Johnson in Chicago, New York’s Shiukay Hung who is highly praised by clients and new partner Ken Muller who joined the global investment funds practice in the West Coast in early 2022 from Kirkland & Ellis LLP.

DLA Piper LLP (US) continues to maintain its reputation as a leading investor-side offering, with the team providing ‘well thought out, comprehensive and bespoke advice‘ to more than 250 institutional investors, including some of the largest and most active sovereign wealth funds, endowments, insurance companies, public pension plans and financial institutions. Recently, the team has also been increasing its focus on sponsor-side work, and has developed particular strength in real estate, energy, and infrastructure fund formation. This dual focus is exemplified by the group’s leadership structure, with key specialized practitioners split between the Chicago and Austin offices; the former location fields Jesse Criz – who co-chairs the investment management practice – and Nathaniel Marrs – who oversees sponsor-side work, while the latter is the base for Criz’s counterpart, David Parrish, and Marrs’ opposite number, investor-side specialist Nicole Brennig. Another illustration of the firm’s ever-growing dedication to sponsor-side mandates was the recent arrival of Ken Muller, formerly of Kirkland & Ellis LLP, to the San Francisco office.