James Friend
Of Counsel
(212) 576-2670
jfriend@osbornlaw.com
Primary Areas
of Practice
All contractual and legal aspects relating to the real estate
and hotel development process, including land acquisition and
entitlement, environmental remediation, municipal bond financing and
other government incentives for development, architecture and
engineering, space planning, interior design, F.F.&E, purchasing, debt
and equity finance, mezzanine finance, entity formation, partnership
structuring and documentation.
Professional Experience
Mr. Friend has over 25 years of hands-on development and legal
experience throughout the United States and the world. He has
worked in more than 15 states and diverse areas of the world including
Puerto Rico and other parts of the Caribbean; the South American
countries of Argentina, Peru, Colombia and Brazil; China, Hong Kong,
Southeast Asia; Mexico; numerous European countries including
Italy, France and Belgium; and Russia and the Baltic States of Latvia
and Lithuania
Mr. Friend practiced law with a major Wall Street law firm,
worked in the real estate finance and sales division of Lehman Brothers
Kuhn Loeb, worked in a commercial bank in South
America, practiced law in
Paris, France and was a Project Manager for
Stanford University in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
He has extensive experience traveling and working overseas and speaks
fluent Spanish.
As a successful hotel and real estate developer he brings a
unique blend of practical experience and deep market knowledge to his
practice. He has raised more than $500 million of debt and equity for
complex and diverse real estate projects nationwide and has extensive
experience working with institutions, banks, insurance companies,
sovereign government lenders and investors, family investment entities
and hedge funds.
Education
Northwestern University,
School
of Law, JD,
Stanford University, BA with Honors
Professional Affiliations
National Board of Directors, Stanford Alumni Association
Adjunct
Professor, New York University
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