Jay Neveloff

Attorney Jay Neveloff helped scale his longtime law firm globally last year.

After 37 years at Kramer Levin, Neveloff began a new era on June 1, 2025, when his New York-based firm merged with London- and Sydney-based Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF). The merger instantly transformed the newly christened HSF Kramer into one of the top 25 law firms in the world by revenue while positioning the commercial real estate practice led by Neveloff to expand well beyond the U.S.

“It gives us a whole additional pipeline of inbound investment,” Neveloff said. “The synergies are limitless, and it is very exciting.”

Neveloff has remained active advising on a number of top-shelf CRE transactions, including serving as New York counsel to an overseas group looking to buy the Pierre Hotel in Midtown Manhattan. The complex deal involves multiple parties since the property is part of a co-op with permanent residents in addition to hotel guests.

Throughout 2025 Neveloff represented Vornado with a long-term lease the real estate investment trust secured with New York University at 770 Broadway. The deal, which marked Manhattan’s largest post-pandemic lease, contained an upfront lease payment of $935 million.

Neveloff also served as lead partner on multiple condominium formations and public offerings in Manhattan and Brooklyn, including Waldorf Towers at 301 Park Avenue, 125 Greenwich Street, 9 DeKalb Avenue and 234 East 46th Street.

Bringing multilayered transactions to the finish line is a speciality of Neveloff’s. He has played an advisory role in a variety of deals involving debt originations, investment sales, recapitalizations, joint venture partnerships, and office or residential conversions — including harnessing his expertise of New York City’s condominium laws. The ability to navigate clients through a variety of transactions with multiple capital stacks has armed HSK Kramer with a competitive edge in a challenging market environment with elevated interest rates.

“Our practice is a series of one-off unique transactions and, yes, we still do the typical purchases and sales and financings and sale-leasebacks, but a lot of what we do is unique and cutting edge,” Neveloff said. “We do a lot of these unique deals, and we are going to see a lot more of them because the world is getting more complex.”