Jeff is the New York office Section Head for the Real Estate and Communications Sections and is a Member of the Environmental Section. A general commercial real estate attorney for almost 30 years, his clients include large national companies, particularly in the high-tech, telecommunications, financial services, health care, supermarket, and oil and gas sectors as well as numerous smaller local clients.
His real estate practice is both national and local and includes representation of landlords and tenants in all types of leases; counseling owners and developers in the acquisition, sale, development, and renovation of property; advising lenders and borrowers in commercial loans; and the representation of all parties in real estate litigation.
Jeff is recognized as a leading real estate attorney in the 2011 edition of Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business. In 2002, Jeff was elected as a Fellow of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers (ACREL), and every year commencing with 2006, he has been named to the New York Super Lawyers list for real estate.
During the past 20 years, he has developed a unique specialty practice in the intersection of real estate with technology, communications, and energy issues. He has extensive experience representing landlords, tenants, and communications service providers in the leasing, purchase, sale, and financing of data centers and switch facilities, collocation facilities, radio and television broadcast antennas, distributed and in-building antenna systems, rooftop antennas, and fiber-optic transactions as well as the wiring of buildings for broadband communications access. Jeff has also negotiated thousands of rooftop and cellular antenna leases, inside wiring agreements, antenna tower leases, and switch facility leases throughout the country-covering over 500 million square feet of space.
He has also devoted a considerable portion of his practice to power and energy issues related to real estate and other technology matters, including large solar and wind installations and bulk power purchases.
A frequent speaker on real estate topics, Jeff also writes a monthly column called Leasing on the Level, covering leasing topics in Real Estate Weekly. He is a member of the board of advisors and regular contributor to Commercial Lease Law Insider, Commercial Tenant's Lease Insider, and Communications Environmental and Land Use Law Report. In addition, he frequently contributes to Mortgage and Real Estate Executives Report and is regularly quoted in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Commercial Property News, Real Estate Weekly, and other publications.
Jeff is currently a commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and is the vice chair of the audit committee and the vice chair of the security committee of the board of commissioners. The Port Authority's facilities include the World Trade Center site; Kennedy, LaGuardia, Newark, Teterboro, and Stewart airports; the Lincoln and Holland tunnels; the George Washington, Bayonne, Goethals, and Outerbridge Crossing bridges; the Port Authority Bus Terminal; the George Washington Bridge Bus Station; the PATH interurban rapid transit system; the Trans-Hudson ferry service; the Newark Legal and Communications Center; six marine terminals; two waterfront development facilities; the Oak Point Rail Freight Link; four industrial development facilities; a resource recovery facility; and certain regional development facilities in the Port District.
Jeff is a member of the Executive Committee of the Real Property Section of the New York State Bar Association. He is also an emergency medical technician on his local volunteer ambulance and coordinator of his local chapter.
In the past, he has served in numerous governmental positions, including representative of the President Pro Tem of the New York State Senate on the New York State Financial Control Board (review and oversight of financial management of city government and related public authorities), member of the New York State Banking Board (the bank regulatory authority) appointed by the governor and confirmed by the New York State Senate; member of the Departmental Disciplinary Committee of the Appellate Division, First Department, of the New York State Supreme Court (appointed to the attorney disciplinary authority for Manhattan, the Bronx, and Westchester); assistant to the First Deputy Mayor of the City of New York; and assistant to the Deputy Borough President of the Borough of Manhattan.
Jeff is admitted to practice in New York, Florida, Massachusetts, the District of Columbia, and before the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. He attended the Horace Mann School and was awarded his B.A. by Columbia College of Columbia University (1978), and his J.D. by the New York University School of Law (1981). From 1981-1982, he served as a law clerk to the Hon. Charles L. Brieant, U.S. District Judge, and later Chief Judge, for the Southern District of New York.
Recent Publications
· Columnist, Leasing on the Level, Real Estate Weekly
· Chapter co-author, "The Effect of Telecommunications Laws and Regulations on Real Property Interests," Powell on Real Property. LexisNexis, March 2000, updated periodically
· Chapter author, "Telecommunications Leases and License Agreements," Commercial Leasing, New York State Bar Association, 2001, 2010
· Author, "Switch Hotels, Data Centers and Technology Buildings: Development, Financing, and Business Issues," Real Estate Finance Journal, 2001
· Author "Found Money: Legal and Business Aspects of Telecommunications Leases" Real Estate Finance Review, 1997
· Author, "Leasing and Licensing Rooftop and Other Space and Wiring Buildings for Telecommunications Uses" Real Estate Review, 1988
Industries
Construction
Energy & Clean Technology
Insurance
Internet & e-Commerce
Manufacturing
Real Estate
Telecommunications & Media
Energy & Clean Technology Project Finance