Mr. Richards is a partner in the firm's Real Estate Practice Group. He has concentrated his legal practice in commercial office development, shopping centers, office/retail/industrial leasing, and railroad real estate, and is a leading authority on New York City development rights transfer. He is known for this work in handling some of the largest real estate transactions in New York City, plus the development or acquisition and disposition of major commercial office buildings throughout the United States.
As a leading authority on foreign investment in US real estate, he has represented domestic and foreign investors, developers, national and international commercial, retail and industrial entities, professional partnerships, not-for-profit cultural and religious institutions, and foreign embassies for English, Japanese, French, Swiss, German, Arab, Israeli and Hong Kong investors. He handles all types of real estate transactions, including conveyances, space leasing, ground leasing and sale-leasebacks, design and construction contracts, and financings.
Mr. Richards is a well-known speaker both nationally and internationally, and has spoken before the International Bar Association; American Bar Association; Association of the Bar of the City of New York; American Law Institute; Practicing Law Institute; and the New York Law Journal Seminars-Press, among others. The ABA Press published his co-authored The Commercial Office Lease Handbook in 2003. His legal articles have appeared in the Yale Law Journal, the Real Property, Probate & Trust Journal, Taxes International, the Real Estate Law Journal, the International Property Investment Journal and the New York Law Journal. His non-legal writing includes Rudyard Kipling - A Bibliography, published by Oak Knoll Press and the British Library in 2010. He is the North American Representative of the Kipling Society and served as Co-Chair of the New York Lawyers for Clinton-Gore, 1996.
He has served as the Chair of the 35,000-member Section on Real Property, Probate & Trust Law of the American Bar Association, and as Chair of the Anglo-American Real Property Institute, as well as serving on the Board of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers.
Mr. Richards is listed in The Best Lawyers in America, Who's Who In American Law, Euromoney's Guide to the World's Leading Real Estate Lawyers, International Who's Who of Real Estate Lawyers and Who's Who In America, and is named in the Legal Media Group's The Best of The Best 2011 (as he was in 2005 - 2010) through peer review as one of the top 10 real estate lawyers in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and France. He is also listed as the biographically featured real estate attorney in New York Super Lawyers in 2010.
Memberships & Affiliations
American Bar Association, Real Property, Probate & Trust Section; Chair, 1991-2
American College of Real Estate Lawyers, Board 1987-1993
Anglo-American Real Property Institute, Chair 1993
Association of the Bar of the City of New York
American Bar Foundation, Life Member
Representative Matters
Real Estate Clients
Mr. Richards has represented several major companies over the years for their national real estate leasing, acquisitions, and dispositions, including AT&T; railroad companies CSX and Conrail; media companies Tribune, Forbes, and Petry Media; printing companies R. R. Donnelley (Moore Wallace), Worldcolor (formerly Quebecor), and Vertis; and retailers such as Tiffany & Co., ASICS, Ted Baker PLC, and Diane von Furstenberg. He has acted for international real estate developers and investors such as Heron, Speyhawk, Royco, Princeton, Jaymont, and London & New York Estates.
On an ongoing basis, he negotiates leases and subleases across the country for Vertis, Petry, and Worldcolor, as well as dispositions and plant expansions.
Conrail and CSX
Mr. Richards represented Conrail and CSX in the twelve-year effort of railbanking and donation to New York City of the Highline, the mile-long elevated railroad viaduct on New York's West Side which is the City's newest public park, crossing twenty-six private properties, and continues the representation as New York City seeks to acquire the balance of the viaduct over the West Side Rail Yards.
Forbes
He has represented the Forbes magazine family of companies in the sale, net leasing and space leasing of properties in the United States and France.
Metropolitan Television Station
He represented the Metropolitan Television Station, made up of the dozen New York television broadcasters, in their joint venture HDTV and other antenna leasing arrangements at Freedom Tower (under construction) and the Empire State Building, and has performed antenna leasing work for Tribune Broadcasting throughout the eastern half of the United States.
AT&T
For AT&T and its iconic New York City headquarters, he was the senior lawyer on the long term net lease with purchase option to Sony, since exercised, and for Tiffany & Co., he effected the development rights transfer which resulted in Trump Tower.
Skyscraper Development
Mr. Richards skyscraper development experience in New York City, for various foreign investors and their joint venture partners, involving acquisition, financing, and space leasing, includes 461 Fifth Avenue, Tower 49, 150 East 52nd Street, and Heron Tower (70 E. 55th Street).
News
09/20/2010, Real estate lawyer David Alan Richards transfers everything from Kipling books to air
09/24/07, Seven McCarter Lawyers named 2007 New York Super Lawyers
08/02/2007, David Richards featured in "The Best of The Best 2007"
Speaking
2012, Mr. Richards is a well-known speaker both nationally and internationally, and has spoken before the International Bar Association; American Bar Association; Association of the Bar of the City of New York; American Law Institute; Practicing Law Institute; and the New York Law Journal Seminars-Press, among others. Additionally, he has authored numerous publications. He is the North American Representative, Kipling Society and served as Co-Chair, New York Lawyers for Clinton-Gore, 1996.
David Alan Richards
Publications
08/08/11, Sovereign Wealth Funds to the Rescue? Effect of foreign investment in U.S. real property depends on CFIUS regulations
New York Law Journal, Real Estate Law & Practice Section
07/07/2009, Sovereign Wealth Funds and U.S. Real Estate Investment
David Alan Richards
Probate & Property - A publication of the Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section American Bar Association
03/24/2003, The Commercial Office Lease Handbook: New York Model Clauses and Commentary
David Alan Richards
ABA Journal
07/01/2001, Federal and State Reporting and Disclosure Requirements
David Alan Richards
Chapter 5 in Foreign Investment in U.S. Real Estate, A Comprehensive Guide, ABA Press, Chicago
2001, Federal and State Reporting and Disclosure Requirements
David Alan Richards
01/01/2001, Kipling and His First Publisher
David Alan Richards
Rivendale Press, High Wycombe
09/01/1987, 'Gradeable and Tradable': The Securitization of Commercial Real Estate Mortgages
David Alan Richards
Real Estate Law Journal
09/01/1986, Downtown Growth Control Through Development Rights Transfer
David Alan Richards
Real Property, Probate & Trust Journal
(Resident, New York, N.Y. Office)