Practice Areas & Industries: Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P.

Practice/Industry Group Overview

Few firms can offer the real estate industry of the twenty-first century the hands-on experience and knowledge of local and global markets that Fulbright & Jaworski has developed over more than 80 years.

Fulbright's Real Estate Practice Group, with approximately 40 attorneys, is one of the largest and most experienced real estate practices in the world.

Nationally and internationally recognized. Fulbright & Jaworski real estate attorneys are widely respected for their industry knowledge and are frequent speakers and contributors of publications on subjects impacting the real estate industry.

Fulbright & Jaworski helps clients manage risk and focus on the big picture as they navigate changing economic environments worldwide. We do that by assisting with myriad details throughout the life of the project. In each project phase, our experience can help clients maximize the return on their investments.

Fulbright & Jaworski real estate attorneys have widely diversified backgrounds throughout this industry and others. We understand the businesses behind the companies involved in real estate transactions, because we work for them in so many other areas of their operations.

The real estate attorneys of Fulbright & Jaworski can help execute and manage all the detailed transactions essential to keeping new projects moving or managing existing ones.

Services Available

Full-practice support. From tax to environmental to international law, Fulbright has a full complement of experienced attorneys to support any type of real estate project anywhere in the world.

Lifetime project support. Having the knowledge and the resources to take a project from the planning stages through development, repositioning, financing, operation and disposition makes Fulbright the logical strategic and tactical partner.

Working cost-effectively. By consistently providing value-added service and working smart for our clients, we save them time and money in their real estate transactions. That's true cost-effectiveness.

Market participants we represent:

• Real estate purchasers/developers
• Property owners, operators/tenants
• Institutional investors
• Multi-family developers and owners
• Foreign investors
• Management companies
• Hotel/resort/convention/leisure industry
• Construction companies
• Institutional lenders and owners
• Retail operators and developers

Our real estate transactional work around the world has involved clients in numerous industries including energy, telecommunications, shopping centers, manufacturing, diversified media, hotels and resorts.

Retail center experience. Our attorneys have worked on transactions involving more than 130 regional, million-plus square-foot retail centers in more than 34 states.

Emerging market experience. We have been involved in large-scale foreign commercial real estate projects in Eastern Europe and Russia and often negotiate financing with European commercial banks and organizations such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

International hotel/resort experience. We have helped put together numerous multi-million-dollar transactions for hotels and entertainment complexes in New York, Chicago, California, Texas, Europe and Asia. We have also been involved in large-scale residential and resort developments.

Financing. We counsel, negotiate and provide full documentation for all matters related to:

• Joint venture transactions
• Leveraged leases
• Regulatory/usury finance matters
• Loan participation agreements
• Sale-leasebacks
• Secured loans
• Synthetic leases

Project development. We have provided assistance with license and easement agreements, reciprocal easement agreements, air rights transfers, zoning lot consolidations and more. Examples of regulatory assistance we can provide are:

• Annexation and extra-territorial jurisdiction
• Environmental investigations
• Governmental and community incentive programs to help companies relocate or expand facilities
• Impact fees
• Industrial Revenue Bonds
• Land use regulation
• Municipal regulation matters
• Zoning

Operation. In addition to negotiating and documenting lease agreements, we assist our clients in the full range of landlord/tenant matters and ongoing regulatory compliance.

Disposition. Finally, if the project is sold, we provide transaction negotiation, tax advice and document preparation.

In the case of large public projects, Fulbright's various practice areas assist with municipal bond issues and private/public partnerships. Some of the types of projects we have helped our clients develop, finance, operate, lease and/or sell are:

• Apartment complexes
• Commercial/office buildings
• Energy production and storage facilities
• Entertainment complexes
• Hospitals
• Hotels
• Industrial facilities
• Low- and moderate-income housing projects
• Medical facilities
• Planned communities
• Residential developments
• Resort properties
• Retail centers/single locations
• Sports stadiums/arenas

Municipal-sponsored private housing programs. In New York, for example, Fulbright has been at the forefront of "for-sale private housing programs" sponsored by the New York City Partnership. This has included the redevelopment of single-room occupancy facilities and the recent boom in service-enriched housing.

Credit matters involving government agencies. This practice group represents clients in all areas of credit syndication and negotiations with federal, state and local government authorities.

Dispute resolution. Our work also involves real estate dispute resolution such as matters related to construction breach of contract or brokerage commissions. We have also advised clients in a wide range of related matters including foreclosure, Uniform Commercial Code sales, enforcement of notes, mortgages, leases, guaranties, letters of credit and other issues arising from troubled real estate.

Fulbright attorneys regularly advise clients in a broad range of U.S. and international arbitration and alternative dispute resolution matters.

In fact, our attorneys have arbitrated before most of the world's major governing bodies and have served as arbitrators in international and domestic disputes. In addition, The American Lawyer included Fulbright & Jaworski in a list of 17 firms in the world named as the "Arbitration Elite."

Local knowledge available globally. Strategically located offices put Fulbright & Jaworski people where the action is, working daily with the regulatory authorities that affect local real estate markets.

Asia. Our Hong Kong office is involved in the ongoing development of the Chinese industrial/commercial sector as well as with projects in Thailand, Indonesia, India, Singapore and other nations in the region.

Our attorneys there have been involved in a variety of hotel, apartment, office, residential and resort projects throughout the world.

Europe/U.S. Our Munich office, working with our New York real estate practitioners, has helped German open- and closed-end funds make real estate investments in the U.S. following recent changes in German law that relaxed restrictions on foreign investments by mutual funds.

Middle-East/Europe. Fulbright also facilitated the purchase of a highly successful golf course and residential development in Portugal by a Saudi Arabian investor. Since then, the firm has assisted with ongoing operating issues, such as relationships with lender banks and employment matters.

International financing organizations. Our long history of experience with international financing organizations is another important asset. In providing legal support services to develop major infrastructure projects around the world, Fulbright has represented or worked with:

• International Finance Corporation (IFC)
• U.S. Eximbank
• Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC)
• Asian Development Bank
• Inter-American Development Bank (IADB)

Members of the Real Estate Practice Board