New York Lawyer
September 25, 2001

Q:
What opportunities are available in the real estate field for a lawyer who worked in both real estate and alternative entity formation?

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A:
Much will depend on the quality of your credentials, the quality of your experience and exactly what you mean by �in the real estate field.� Many people, lawyers and human beings alike, are pretty vague when describing their discipline and expertise. Most would agree that saying, �I�m in business� or �I�m in law� is too imprecise to be helpful, but we use phrases like �I�m in marketing,� �I�m in plastics,� or �I�m in real estate� as if the listener will know exactly what it is you�re capable of doing.

As a general proposition, it�s best to describe yourself first in terms of what you did (What verbs are you selling? What behaviors do you offer the potential employer?) and then in terms of where you did it. And be specific about the latter. �I managed a multi-district toxic tort Superfund case while at Skadden� says a lot more than, �I�m an environmental lawyer.�

So, what did you do �in real estate?� Draft leases? Serve as in-house counsel for a strip-mall developer seeking anchor tenants? Securitize mortgages? Represent the building trades? Oversee the compliance filings for a real estate asset-based portfolio for a major pension fund? Manage Title IX public-private venture negotiations? See, I don�t know what you did, so it�s hard for me to know what you can do � and hard for me to opine on what real estate employers might find your credentials attractive. Did you work for mega-organizations or two-man bands? For developers or lenders? For the biggest REIT in the country or an entrepreneur who owns 35 multi-unit residential apartment buildings? By the way, all of these are settings in which lawyers � or ex-lawyers � have found a home.

As a sweeping generalization, opportunities for lawyers with particular expertise in the financing, development, management and sale of both commercial and residential real estate are pretty good right now. New housing starts remain strong, the boomer generation is rolling out of big houses into lock-and-travel condos, and there is even some inner-city development of new office space in the rust belt. The law firms I know best have large real estate departments that are billing at full song. Lateral hires are increasing. Specialists are finding fertile hiring ground.

In-house, it seems to me, is about the same as it�s always been � steady, consistent, but not burgeoning � although many corporate legal departments are saddling existing staffs with more tasks and working them harder/longer. Real estate asset-based lending remains strong. Joint ventures, corporate partnerings and third-world flyers involving real estate acquisition, sale and development abound. This is unlike the tenor (at least in the rust belt) in the early nineties, where the bottom dropped out of the commercial real estate market and took at whole lot of allied disciplines down with it.

If your question implies you want to un-become a lawyer, but have a lawyerly background, you will find that your expertise as a scrivener, technician, negotiator or regulator will be well received even for roles that are law-related but do not formally embrace the title or role of lawyer, per se. But you have to inventory and prioritize your skill sets and areas of experience. Employers need solid proof of what you can do, not what (or where) you once were.

As with all lawyers making career shifts, however, be prepared to explain why you abandoned the profession.

Sincerely,
Douglas B. Richardson
President, The Richardson Group