Real estate law firms: profiles
Not legal advice. This section describes law firms from published rankings and SEC filings. It does not recommend a lawyer for your matter, and reading it does not create a lawyer–client relationship with anyone. For a legal question, talk to a lawyer licensed where the property is.
Last updated: 2026-10-20
We do not score law firms. We cannot see the work, and the guides already rank them through client interviews. We show the guides’ bands and tiers as they publish them, and list firms alphabetically.
Fried Frank
Private law partnership.
Hired as the independent counsel to Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance’s special committee on the ~$9B sale of its loan book to Athene.
Profile and sources →Gibson Dunn
Private law partnership.
Brookfield’s counsel on two 2026 REIT take-privates: Peakstone (~$1.2B) and LXP Industrial (~$5.2B).
Profile and sources →Goodwin
Private law partnership.
AvalonBay’s counsel on its 2026 merger with Equity Residential, which formed Vivmark Residential.
Profile and sources →Greenberg Traurig
Private law partnership.
Shows up on both sides of mid-size REIT deals: for the target, the buyer and buyer consortiums.
Profile and sources →Kirkland & Ellis
Private law partnership.
Counsel to Blue Owl and Ares on 2025–26 REIT take-privates worth $1.7B to $2.4B each.
Profile and sources →Latham & Watkins
Private law partnership.
Company counsel on Lineage’s IPO and Sun Communities’ $5.65B marina sale; also acts for buyers such as Ares.
Profile and sources →Paul Hastings
Private law partnership.
Counsel to Tri Pointe Homes on its ~$4.5B sale to Sumitomo Forestry; Chambers notes real estate work for tech companies.
Profile and sources →Simpson Thacher
Private law partnership.
Blackstone’s counsel in two REIT take-privates we read: Retail Opportunity Investments and Alexander & Baldwin (~$2.3B).
Profile and sources →Skadden
Private law partnership.
Rithm Capital’s counsel buying Paramount Group ($1.6B) and Alexander & Baldwin’s counsel on its take-private.
Profile and sources →Last verified 2026-10-20. Figures were re-read from the linked sources that day.
View changelog
- Section published: hub, three sub-hubs, nine profiles and three comparisons, from Chambers USA 2026, The Legal 500 and SEC filings read this day.