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Meet Dirt Lawyers

New York
Meet Dirt Lawyers
Every few years, a ragtag bunch of real estate attorneys emerge from behind their computers (having stayed in touch via e-mail, closings, and chance meetings), for a scheduled cocktail party. This time, the NYCDirtLawyers (yes, that’s their real name) were spotted Monday evening at O’Neill’s on Third Ave, and we happened to have our camera.
Meet Dirt Lawyers
These gents were no doubt engaged in a spirited discussion on mortgage recording tax implications of commodity hedging agreements (in layman’s terms: Yankees game). Holland & Knight’s Marty Miner, Latham & Watkins’ Jamie Hisiger, Fried Frank’s Jon Mechanic Patterson Belknap’s Bob Safron (an event co-host), Moody’s Dan Rubock, and Latham’s Joshua Stein (also co-hosting). About 60 lawyers crowded the restaurant to talk shop, with an emphasis on talking anything but shop.
Meet Dirt Lawyers
Mintz Levin’s Jeff Moerdler (yet another co-host), Stroock’s Jack Bart, Joshua Stein, and Patterson Belknap’s Andy Herz. Since Joshua managed to squeeze into a second photo, we put him on the spot for news: Though he’s getting ready to start work on his first new construction loan in over a year, he still sees a frozen market, partly because no one can estimate values; everyone would rather wait and see than do anything:“For the major part of a decade, we all forgot that markets go down as well as up, and now we’re all forgetting that markets go up as well as down.” That’s so zen.