Each year, Jennifer Nassiri tries to clear her schedule for four days so she can attend the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges. Oftentimes that proves to be a difficult task, but she – and nearly 1,800 others – had no trouble finding time to attend this year’s conference in October.
“It was the busiest I’ve ever seen that conference,” said Nassiri, a partner in the bankruptcy practice at the Century City office of Venable. “More judges were able to go because they weren’t as busy.”
In fact, bankruptcy cases hit a seven-year low nationwide in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30. And in Los Angeles, the number of filings is down nearly 23 percent from last year.
Indeed, the improving economy this year did not bode well for many L.A. bankruptcy attorneys, evidenced by the closure of top bankruptcy litigation boutique Stutman Treister & Glatt in May and Peitzman Weg’s merger with Minneapolis law firm Robins Kaplan Miller & Ciresi shortly thereafter.
To stay afloat and avoid a similar outcome, bankruptcy lawyers have had to get creative to keep busy.
“Bankruptcy attorneys tend to learn how to metamorphosize into something else,” Nassiri said. “I can do bankruptcy litigation, so I can work on any litigation.”
When it opened its downtown L.A. office last month, Costa Mesa boutique law firm Smiley Wang-Ekvall expanded its practice areas beyond bankruptcy to include real estate.
Still, the growth isn’t easy to maintain, said partner Evan Smiley. He and his colleagues now travel across the country more often to broaden their client base beyond Southern California.
“It is a nationwide practice for us,” he said. “In the past year or so, I’ve had a lot of cases up in Northern California and one recently in Iowa.”
Real Estate Practice
Consumer and criminal defense attorneys Mark Geragos and Brian Kabateck continue to prove there is life outside the courtroom.
The pair, who formed a partnership to invest in real estate six years ago, have purchased the 155-room boutique Curve hotel in Palm Springs and said last week that they would renovate and rebrand the resort.
The property is the first investment outside Los Angeles County made by the pair’s joint real estate venture, Mark & Brian’s Enterprises.
Geragos said they plan to spend $25 million – including the purchase price and renovations – on the four-acre property. While detailed renovation plans are still in the works, the finished product will boast an “old Hollywood-meets-Coachella kind of ambiance.” Construction is slated for completion by this time next year.
For Kabateck, the real estate partnership offers an escape from the daily grind.
“It’s a challenge and it’s fun, and it’s different than practicing law and representing clients,” he said. “You get to a point in your career where you have to do something that has some amusement to it.”
And, of course, the extra income never hurts.
The Kabateck-Geragos real estate partnership dates to 2008, when they bought the Fine Arts Building in downtown Los Angeles. The pair sold it four years later at a $5 million premium.
Generally, however, the lawyers have held on to their real estate investments. The growing M&B portfolio still has about nine properties across Los Angeles, including the Engine Company No. 28 building downtown, which also houses their firms, Geragos & Geragos and Kabateck Brown Kellner.
The duo has no plans to stop any time soon.
“We have more to come and we have more investable assets that we’re sitting on,” Kabateck said. “We get sidetracked sometimes with our clients. I wish I could allocate more time to this. It’s just fun.”
New Hires
Philadelphia law firm Blank Rome increased its corporate litigation group last month by hiring Frank Kaplan as a partner and Ken Meyers as of counsel in its Century City office. … Arent Fox this month added trademark attorney John Carson to its downtown L.A. office. … Reed Smith last month hired Shigehito Onimura as counsel at the law firm’s downtown L.A. office. … Sandra Lee Montgomery joined the Century City office of law firm Proskauer last month as a partner in the firm’s finance group. … Stroock & Stroock & Lavan named Yousuf I. Dhamee a partner in the firm’s investment management practice at its Century City office.… Nick Hobson was promoted to partner last week in the emerging companies practice at the Santa Monica office of law firm Cooley. … Westwood’s Liner hired Robbin L. Itkin and Kelly Frazier last month. Itkin will chair Liner’s business solutions and financial restructuring group; Frazier is of counsel in the group.
Staff reporter Cale Ottens can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 549-5225, ext. 221.
