DLA Piper Expands Real Estate Practice

Brad S. Markoff, an industry veteran who is also a member of the board of advisors of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts, is leading the new DLA Piper REIT securities team of partners, counselors and associates as managing partner of the new office. This merger of sorts, according to DLA Piper and the former Alston & Bird team, is expected to blanket the legal world's real estate capital markets business.

DLA Piper's addition of the REIT securities honchos allows the firm to fulfill a longstanding mission of diversifying its real estate capital markets practice--a practice that devotes more than 200 attorneys in all the major markets, representing clients ranging from real estate owners and developers to investors and brokerage firms. "We've been trying to do this for a long time; we were looking for the right player to come along," DLA Piper's Lee I. Miller tells GlobeSt.com. As joint CEO, Miller serves as one of the leaders of the firm's global operations. "We had a substantial practice, but Brad was a marquis player and he gave us significantly more reach." Indeed, as Markoff notes, his team had been growing at a rapid pace over the last few years, with some on the team representing REITs and others representing various underwriters all over the country. The names that graced Markoff's client list include investment banks and REIT securities underwriters such as Raymond James, Friedman Billings Ramsey, Wachovia Securities and Deutsch Bank; as well as such REITs as Highwoods Properties, Duke Realty, Wells Real Estate Investment Trust and Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust.

The new partnership is a mutually beneficial one. "We looked at our practice and where it was going, and the where the world of REITs was going, and DLA presented an intriguing opportunity," Markoff says, speaking to GlobeSt.com. "Other competitors aren't really tied to major real estate platforms." The firm that had been known as Piper Rudnick recently merged with California's Gray Cary and the United Kingdom's DLA to form the current incarnation DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary, which now boasts more than 2,800 lawyers spanning 18 countries.

Together, they plan to multiply DLA Piper's client list, both within and beyond domestic borders. "We are aggressively pursuing international business," Miller says. As REIT laws change, "we're going to pick up significantly more clients and Brad will give us more expertise to be able to do this." And Markoff offers further insight into what the future holds. "There is an explosion of REITs happening overseas and we expect that Europe will be the next big boom in REITs. This melding creates a unique practice that no other firm can replicate at this time."