News
Meet Dirt Lawyers
June 11, 2009
| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
