Richard Fries is co-chair of the firm's Real Estate Practice Group and is well-known throughout the New York real estate and finance communities. According to Chambers USA, "his expertise in distressed real estate assets and workouts is legendary." He represents national and global institutional lenders, investment bankers, owners and developers in distressed loan workouts and restructurings, mortgage foreclosure, distressed portfolio and asset sales, property disposition, creditors' rights and insolvency, the origination of commercial real estate loans, asset-based and structured finance, loan participations and syndications, and private equity joint ventures and restructures.
Richard has been involved in the financing, foreclosure and restructuring of permanent, construction and mezzanine loans, including agented and syndicated facilities (as well as the restructuring and recapitalization of joint venture interests), secured by office buildings, land development projects, healthcare complexes, hotels, mixed-use projects, apartment buildings, shopping centers, franchise operations and automobile dealerships, among other real estate and business assets. He represents lending institutions in the purchase and sale of participation interests, performing and underperforming loan portfolios and real estate assets, and the implementation of national standard loan and workout documentation for real estate and other loan products. He also represents private equity investors in real estate joint ventures and property owners, developers and contractors in all aspects of commercial real estate litigation, construction litigation, conveyancing, asset disposition, development and property management.
In addition, over the past several years, Richard has chaired and lectured at numerous PLI, state and city bar association and industry group continuing legal education programs on real estate finance, mortgage foreclosure, real estate workouts and remedies. He has written extensively on real estate and financing cases and on subjects of national and local interest.
Noted as "a technically superior lawyer with exceptional people skills and intuitive understanding of everybody's business objectives," Richard has been recognized by Chambers USA as one of the country's leading real estate lawyers. He was ranked "Band 1" for Real Estate Finance in New York in the 2011, 2010 and 2009 editions of Chambers USA.
ADMISSIONS
- Admitted to practice in New York
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York
- U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
- U.S. Court of Federal Claims
EDUCATION
- New York University School of Law, Juris Doctor (1977)
- Brooklyn College, Bachelor of Arts (1974)