REIT Capital Markets Stars Join Forces to Build Premier Platform at Paul Hastings

BOSTON and CHICAGO (October 28, 2024) – In a move that strategically strengthens its cross-practice real estate investment trust (REIT) platform, Paul Hastings LLP today announced that capital markets lawyers Scott Chase and Kerry Johnson have joined forces as partners in the firm’s Boston and Chicago offices, respectively.

Chase and Johnson are market leaders with at least one of them involved in all REIT IPOs that have closed in 2024, including the largest REIT IPO in history, Lineage, which closed at $5.1 billion. Collectively, Chase and Johnson’s clients have included Barclays, BofA Securities, Citigroup, Citizens JMP, Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, Jefferies, J.P. Morgan, KeyBanc Capital Markets, Morgan Stanley, RBC Capital Markets, UBS Investment Bank, and Wells Fargo Securities, as well as company or underwriter-side roles for American Healthcare REIT, Armada Hoffler Properties, Elme Communities, FrontView REIT, Highwoods Properties, Innovative Industrial Properties, Invitation Homes, Lineage, LTC Properties, STAG Industrial, and Terreno Realty Corporation.

“Scott and Kerry’s practice extends a convergence of our leading capital markets, M&A, and real estate platforms—which are strategic priorities and on strong trajectories,” said firm Chair Frank Lopez. “We believe it’s a good time to be opportunistic in bringing on premier talent focused on the real estate sector and capital markets more broadly.”

Chambers-ranked for REITs, Chase’s practice focuses on advising public and private companies on a range of corporate and securities matters. His work includes IPOs, follow-on offerings, corporate governance, disclosure issues, and M&A transactions, with a focus on capital markets transactions for REITs. He joins from Goodwin Procter LLP.

Johnson, also Chambers-ranked for REITs, advises clients on capital markets and securities offerings, M&A transactions, and corporate governance matters with a primary emphasis on the real estate industry and publicly traded REITs. She has extensive experience representing public exchange-listed REITs and their underwriters in IPOs and other public and private offerings of equity and debt securities. She joins from DLA Piper LLP (US).

“It is impossible to ignore the strong global platform that Paul Hastings has built in the market,” said Chase. “I could not be more excited to join the firm with Kerry, and I look forward to introducing its many leading practices to my clients while contributing to its impressive growth.”

“Paul Hastings’ collaborative culture is palpable,” added Johnson. “I am thrilled by the opportunity to work with Scott and the firm’s deep existing bench of top-tier talent to advise clients on their most business-critical transactions.”

Combining the firm’s existing REIT client base with Chase and Johnson’s leading practices immediately places the firm among the top players in the REIT market, with further growth anticipated. This growth is synergistic with the expansion of the firm’s capital markets practice, which has seen significant gains in market share over the past two years, and with its public company and M&A practice, which has added eight partners in the last year across the firm’s global footprint.

Paul Hastings’ REIT practice combines capital markets and public company experience with a market-leading real estate platform that advises clients on virtually all transactions, including M&A, joint venture, finance, and hospitality for clients including Apollo, Barclays, Blackstone, BMO Capital Markets, Capital One, Eagle Hospitality REIT, KKR, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Nuveen, Oaktree, Related Fund Management, Starwood Property Trust, and Wells Fargo Securities.

 

About Paul Hastings

With widely recognized elite teams in finance, mergers & acquisitions, private equity, restructuring and special situations, litigation, employment, and real estate, Paul Hastings is a premier law firm providing intellectual capital and superior execution globally to the world’s leading investment banks, asset managers, and corporations. For more information, visit www.paulhastings.com.