The following is an excerpt from Practice Perspectives: Vault's Guide to Legal Practice Areas.
Philip Tedesco has a broad transactional real estate practice counseling clients on complex acquisitions, financings, joint ventures, and development projects involving retail, office, life sciences, and multifamily assets throughout the United States. He began his practice as a summer associate at Goulston & Storrs and, since then, has had the opportunity to work on projects through their entire life cycles, from acquisition and financing to sale. Phil’s experience representing clients during all aspects of transactions allows him to bring a balanced perspective to transactions and find practical solutions to issues.
Describe your practice area and what it entails.
As a member of the real estate team, I’ve worked on a broad range of real estate transactions involving everything from mixed-use projects in Boston to multifamily, office, retail, and life science projects throughout the country. I often have the opportunity to work on a variety of transactions on different aspects of a project throughout the life cycle of an asset.
What types of clients do you represent?
My practice includes representing both entrepreneurial developers and institutional investors in their acquisitions, joint ventures, financings, and development projects, and I’ve been very fortunate to work with some of these clients since I was a very junior lawyer, including WS Development, King Street Properties, and Beacon Capital Partners.
What types of cases/deals do you work on?
Working at Goulston, I have been able to develop a practice that involves a wide range of transactions and projects. I’m currently working on the recapitalization of a shopping center with which I’ve worked on a previous joint venture, multiple financings, development, and acquisitions. In the past few months, I’ve worked on a short sale that included refinancing and a new equity partner, the acquisition of life science buildings that involved seller financing and a partial leaseback, and the workout and modification of a loan for a client who I’d initially represented during negotiations several years prior.
How did you choose this practice area?
Property was the most interesting class I took in law school, and working in real estate gave me the opportunity to work on tangible projects involving interesting issues. I had my first exposure to transactional real estate as a summer associate at Goulston, and I knew that it was the area I wanted to practice and have found the work continuously interesting and challenging.
As a transactional lawyer, I really enjoy the opportunity to learn from clients and help them achieve their objectives and then to see the tangible projects.
What is a “typical” day like and/or what are some common tasks you perform?
It depends on the day, but most days involve a mix of calls with clients and the other side, reviewing and drafting trans-action documents, and coordinating with others at Goulston on the matters we’re working on together. Often, I’ll be managing five or six active matters, as well as things that unexpectedly come up and need more immediate attention—this is all part of what makes the job so interesting and exciting.
What training, classes, experience, or skills development would you recommend to someone who wishes to enter your practice area?
Any exposure to the business of real estate and real estate investment would be helpful to learn about transactional work, and many national and local organizations host online seminars and discussions. Listening to developers, lenders, and investors talk about projects can teach so much about how the different parties involved in any project think about it and what they care about. If someone is more interested in land use and development, then there are also a variety of books and articles on the policy aspects of real estate development that constrain and guide what can be built.
What is unique about your practice area at your firm?
The breadth and depth of Goulston’s real estate practice mean that lawyers here have the opportunity to work on all aspects of real estate, from structuring complex equity investments to leasing, land use and permitting, acquisitions, and financings. While no one can become an expert in everything, as a team, we can handle all aspects of a transaction no matter how complicated or multifaceted (except for issues specific to the jurisdiction, for which we would involve local counsel), and as a result, we have the opportunity to work on very interesting transactions with many moving parts. As an individual lawyer, you can almost always get input from an expert on issues and questions that you encounter.
What are some typical tasks that a junior lawyer would perform in this practice area?
A junior associate would do a lot that is typical of any trans-actional practice, including reviewing and managing due diligence, creating and managing the transaction checklist, drafting closing documents, taking on the project management for a transaction, and helping to manage the documents and signatures for closing. From time to time, junior associates may also conduct legal research on issues that come up. There are a few things in real estate that are different (and in my view more interesting). The diligence will involve reviewing the title and survey, which will require understanding the property, how it operates, and how existing rights may affect operations and development. In addition, in real estate, junior associates can also become involved with permitting and land use projects.
What kinds of experience can summer associates gain at this practice area at your firm?
Given the size and breadth of our practice, summer associates at Goulston often have the opportunity to work on a transaction team (either to help with the closing or to be involved in other aspects of the deal if the timing does not align with the summer calendar), do legal research for an issue on a real estate transaction or development project, attend client meetings and calls, and help draft agreements that are not part of a larger transaction.
How important is collaboration in effectively practicing Real Estate Law?
Collaboration is incredibly important and involves working with your client to understand the transaction and their goals, negotiating with the other side, and effectively coordinating with others at the firm on the project. Many transactions involve multiple components (acquisition from the seller, equity investment with a joint venture partner, financing with a lender, and/or future leasing or development goals), and different people from all sides will be involved, working together on different aspects of the transaction to effectively negotiate and close the transaction that advances everyone’s objectives.