The 2016 Lawyer’s Issue
By Cathy Cunningham September 7, 2016 11:15 am
reprints
“The law is reason free from passion,” said Aristotle in ancient Greece. Thankfully this remains the case today when relying on its guidance in the contentious division of billion-dollar real estate empires or the heated unwinding of property in bankruptcy cases.
For our lawyer’s issue, we tackled a very sticky subject—divorce—and used lots of dirty words—prenup, postnup and “division of assets.” On the heels of Harry Macklowe’s impending divorce, Commercial Observer spoke with industry experts on the ins and outs of marital separation when a real estate empire is at stake. Love and marriage don’t always go together like a horse and carriage, and without a clearly stated contract prior to the blessed day, things can get real ugly, real fast.
Cyrus Vance Jr., the Manhattan D.A., is investigating another kind of ugliness: shoddy construction. The district attorney sat down with CO to discuss how his office has addressed crooked developers and careless construction magnates in this era of building boom.
Finally, CO interviewed eight real estate finance attorneys whose expertise range from the development of a mini-city within New York City to commercial mortgage-backed securities to loan workouts.—Cathy Cunningham
