CHARLOTTE, N.C., April 30, 2007 LAWFUEL – The Law Firm Newswire —Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP announced today that a prominent group of 18 capital markets attorneys led by John Nicholas “Jay” Suhr, Jonathan J. Nugent and James M. Tucker have joined the international law firm as partners to open a new office in Charlotte, N.C. The team, which comes to Sonnenschein from Kilpatrick Stockton LLP, includes of counsels Linde H. Carley and J. Keith Jones and 13 associates.
Suhr, Nugent and Tucker, who will now head Sonnenschein’s capital markets practice, are national leaders in commercial real estate finance and equity investment by traditional and capital markets lenders. Their group specializes in the origination of commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) loans for the purpose of aggregating them into pools subsequently transferred to real estate mortgage investment conduits (REMICs) or other trust vehicles. In addition to traditional CMBS finance, the group also does a high volume of tenancy-in-common, floating rate and equity transactions.
“From their base in Charlotte, Jay, Jonathan and James have built one of the very best capital markets groups in the country, with a particularly strong reputation in commercial mortgage-backed securities and other sophisticated real estate finance instruments,” said Jana Cohen Barbe (formerly Jana Cohen Blackman), chair of Sonnenschein’s Real Estate Group. “We expect this exceptional team of lawyers to play a key role in the expansion of the firm’s capital markets practice, working closely with our real estate, corporate and tax attorneys.”
Added Sonnenschein Chairman Elliott I. Portnoy, “Charlotte is a major U.S. financial center. We believe a strong presence here will contribute significantly to the growth of our capital markets and other core practices. Under the leadership of Jay, Jonathan and James, we intend to aggressively seek opportunities to expand the office to serve a broad range of our clients’ legal needs.”
“Joining Sonnenschein will help us satisfy the increasing demands of our clients for greater exposure to the nation’s other major finance markets, including New York, Chicago and Los Angeles,” stated Suhr, who will serve as managing partner of the Charlotte office. “Together with our colleagues across the firm, we look forward to achieving great success in North Carolina and beyond.”
The associates joining Sonnenschein in Charlotte are Marcus L. Anderson, Crystal A. Bowman, Kerri M. DeRuyter, Matthew W. Finniss, D. Shane Gunter, Catherine C. Huie, Catherine V.M. Hutasuhut, Erin A. Janssen, Jose M. Luis, Virginia B. Rolfes, Julie H. Seidenstein, Seth E. Strickland and John P. Ulrich Jr.
Sonnenschein’s Charlotte office is located at 5960 Fairview Road. The firm also has opened offices in Dallas and Silicon Valley this year, bringing its total number of offices to 14.
At Sonnenschein, we are committed to providing the highest-quality legal and counseling services for all of our clients, all of the time. They include many of the world’s most admired businesses, nonprofits and individuals. Through integrated, inter-office teamwork, we help them to prosper and grow. For more information, visit www.sonnenschein.com.
