Real Estate Litigation

We represent clients in real estate litigations that arise out of sophisticated transactions, land use and environmental issues. We counsel clients in disputes over the sale of buildings and building portfolios, rights of first offer and first refusal, condemnation, environmental aspects of real estate development and land use, complex commercial landlord-tenant disputes, disputes under financing documents, and all manners of complex commercial real estate valuations, including rent reset proceedings. In addition, we represent real estate industry clients in a variety of commercial and insurance-related litigations.

The advantage that our top-ranked Litigation Practice brings is that our litigators work closely with our award-winning Real Estate Practice to develop strategic approaches and innovative solutions in a variety of disputes. We routinely draw upon the expertise of, and collaborate with, other disciplines including environmental, tax, corporate and restructuring and insolvency to address, with a multidisciplinary approach, issues that may arise. Members of our group have substantive experience in almost every facet of real estate litigation and represent clients in various forums, including both state and federal court, administrative and other state and federal agencies and arbitral organizations.

Our Real Estate Litigation Practice was named a “Litigation Department of the Year” by New York Law Journal in 2019, and is consistently recognized as a "Tier 1" practice, both nationally and within New York, in US News' "Best Law Firms" rankings.

Commercial real estate finance disputes: Fried Frank's Real Estate Litigation Practice has a deep understanding of financial analysis, corporate structures, debt and equity financing, valuation of property and assets, and other complex financial matters in the real estate industry. Our real estate litigators have successfully represented developers, lenders, landlords, tenants, REITs and other financial services companies in disputes involving: purchase and sale contracts, including escrow disputes, specific performance, rescission and fraud claims; secured loans, including foreclosure actions, lender liability and bad-faith lender claims; and inter-creditor disputes. We also represent clients in loan workouts, restructuring and bankruptcy proceedings.

Complex commercial lease disputes: Our real estate litigators have successfully represented major landlords and tenants (including Fortune 500 corporations) of office, retail and other facilities in all aspects of lease disputes. Our lawyers have a sophisticated and intimate understanding of the New York leasing market. We are aware of the complex technical and financial issues involved in such leases and our expertise in these areas allow us to best protect both landlords and tenants. We represent clients in matters such as termination and option disputes, right of first refusal disputes, complex operating expense disputes and fair market rent reset arbitrations.

Fair market rent reset arbitrations: Fried Frank's Real Estate Litigation Practice represents landlords and tenants in connection with all aspects of fair market rent reset arbitrations.

Real estate partnership/joint venture disputes: We represent numerous ownership structures, including partnerships and limited liability companies, in various joint venture and other complex disputes involving matters such as dissolution, participation rights, termination and management rights. Our lawyers also represent parties to management and operation agreements in the various legal disputes that arise from such arrangements. Our goal in these representations is to avoid litigation if at all possible, yet we remain able to litigate matters to trial if necessary.

Real property insurance disputes: Our lawyers represent clients in all aspects of title, property and casualty insurance claims, including the scope of insurance coverage, liability and exclusions.

Land use disputes Fried Frank's litigators work hand-in-hand with our land use practice to provide a full range of legal services in all areas of land use law. We represent clients in disputes concerning zoning changes, special permits, variances, tax abatements, environmental issues, development, construction and building code disputes, and disputes related to landmarking and historic preservation.