Joel H. Rothstein is an international real estate and structured finance lawyer and Chair of the Asia Real Estate Practice of the global law firm of Greenberg Traurig LLP. He advises investment banks, financial institutions, private equity funds, sovereign wealth funds, real estate developers, and investors across all major Asia markets with a focus on Japan, Greater China, and South Korea. He also leads the firm’s practice in advising Asia-based outbound cross-border investors in structuring, implementing, and managing equity and debt investments into the United States, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East.

With more than twenty years’ experience living and working in Asia, Joel has structured, documented, and implemented a number landmark transactions and investment programs in the region, including the first rating agency rated commercial mortgaged-backed securities transaction in Japan, the first non-performing loan securitization transactions completed in Japan and in South Korea, the first comingled USD/RMB real estate fund sponsored by a Chinese financial institution and the first international style non-recourse real estate loans by financial institutions in both Japan and China.

Joel and his team advise regularly clients on:

• Real estate venture formation and complex cross-border joint ventures;
• Fund vehicle formation and management;
• Real estate finance including senior, mezzanine and preferred equity structures;
• Asset securitization and secondary trading of loan assets;
• Non-performing loan (NPL) and hard asset portfolio acquisitions and dispositions;
• Property acquisitions and dispositions;
• Real estate equity and debt capital markets, including REITs;
• Asset and property management;
• Leasing, franchising, servicing, and operation agreements;
• Construction and development;
• Hotel and resort finance, development, and management; and
• Infrastructure projects and public-private partnerships

A New York native currently residing in Tokyo, in addition to practicing law, Joel is also an architect and urban designer whose work prior to becoming an attorney included numerous architecture and urban design projects around the world, from Cartagena, Colombia, South America to New York City.

Joel frequently writes and lectures on real estate law and finance as we all as on urban design and development. Joel has been a guest lecturer at Harvard University, Georgetown University and Peking University, and an adjunct professor in the real estate program at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China.