Real Estate Dispute Resolution

Rising interest rates? Falling tenant demand? “High-yield” or “value-added”? Across the global real estate capital markets, how you position yourself with respect to risk and return is critical for maximizing your investments. Whether assessing demographic trends and capital flows or anticipating geographic shifts, Goodwin’s Real Estate Industry group offers deep market insight and a practical approach to help you make the most of every investment decision – from private fund formation and all types of real estate transactions to REIT and real estate M&A, we excel at what we do.

Real estate development requires technical expertise and dedication. Building a successful project starts with good working partnerships and Goodwin is committed to guiding our clients from concept to completion of every project. We counsel developers, investors, corporate owners and managers, nonprofit institutions and investors in large-scale projects of all kinds.

Clients in a broad spectrum of industry sectors including manufacturing, consumer products, hardrock mining, conventional and renewable energy, clean tech, private equity, financial services, educational institutions, and real estate investment and development work with Goodwin’s renowned Environmental Practice to resolve their most difficult environmental challenges. These challenges include multi-party litigation, contested administrative rulemaking and permitting proceedings, new legislative initiatives, major enforcement actions, compliance investigations, Brownfields redevelopment projects, and management of complex sites, particularly those involving contaminated sediments or vapor intrusion.

The world’s leading hospitality and leisure companies face an evolving market and increased competition which demand exceptional guidance and legal counsel. And with the rapidly accelerating pace of technology disrupting industries around the world, we partner closely with clients to embrace the promise and potential of innovation to make a lasting impact. Goodwin is dedicated to providing best-in-class service to the hospitality and leisure industry, advising both hotel operators, including a number of the major luxury brands and hotel owners and investors on a wide range of matters. We have worked with many of the hospitality industry’s marquee names on some of the largest and most complex deals over the past decade.

Our lawyers across the globe have handled hospitality transactions and related legal issues in more than 50 countries, including asset and portfolio acquisitions and dispositions, hospitality company corporate IPOs and M&A transactions, complex structuring relating to REITs and investments by tax-exempt entities, formation of investment funds targeting hotels, financings of all types, development and operational joint ventures project development, including acquisitions, joint ventures, financings, design and construction, hotel management and franchise agreements, retail leasing, food and beverage operations agreements, privacy and cybersecurity, and employment, including union matters. We understand how to navigate cross-border and multi-jurisdictional transactions and how to overcome the challenges presented by diverse legal systems, cultures, conventions, and languages.

Institutional investors, owners and developers in real estate joint venture transactions face a raft of complex issues and market challenges as they invest across the United States and Europe. Clients count on Goodwin’s comprehensive understanding of the unique relationships and matters that arise during the lifecycle of real estate joint ventures, from formation concerns to exit rights. And as rapidly evolving technology disrupts industries around the world, we partner with our clients and embrace the promise and potential of innovation to make a lasting impact.

Landlords and tenants engage Goodwin’s Leasing practice for comprehensive legal counsel in office, industrial, retail and mixed-use leasing matters. Clients can face a full range of issues in lease transactions, including tax, ADA and environmental issues, as well as the negotiation of architect and construction contracts and subcontracts. Goodwin’s Leasing practice is broad-based in scope, with specialists who have devoted their careers to representing clients in leasing and related transactions efficiently and cost-effectively. Clients count on Goodwin’s insight into how leasing transactions fit in the broader context of real estate investment and corporate operations. As real estate continues to adopt technology to increase efficiency, our lawyers not only recognize the effects of this evolutionary process, but are equipped to assist clients in order to make this shift as seamless as possible.

When businesses need counsel at the intersection of real estate and the public markets, they turn to Goodwin, a proven leader and innovator. From the dawn of the REIT market in the 1960s through the modern REIT era that began in the early 1990s, our lawyers are the industry vanguard – helping to draft the Real Estate Investment Trust Act of 1960, pioneering the creation of the first public UPREIT structure, and successfully representing issuers in the largest and most complex REIT IPOs to date. And with the breakneck pace of technology disrupting industries around the world, we partner with our clients and embrace the promise and potential of innovation to make a lasting impact.

Goodwin has been consistently recognized as a leader serving the public REIT market, including in connection with alternative uses of the REIT vehicle, REIT conversions and innovative compensation structures like the modern LTIP partnership unit. As REITs have matured into a mainstream investment with expanded reach around the globe, the industry’s top players continue to rely on our expertise and dedication. And as REITs seek to take advantage of regulatory reforms that broaden their access to capital, such as new exemptions from registration or innovative equity securities, our lawyers are always first on the scene.