Michelle Kelban

Practice Areas

Michelle Kelban, Global Co-Chair of the firm’s Real Estate Practice, advises clients on a range of complex and prominent real estate transactions, including private capital raising and financing, acquisitions, joint venture recapitalizations, and workouts and restructurings.

Nationally recognized as a leading real estate lawyer, Ms. Kelban serves a variety of key market players, including private equity firms, US and foreign investors, institutional lenders, and family offices. She leverages her broad-based experience to help clients successfully navigate all types of real estate transactions across an array of asset classes. Ms. Kelban brings particular experience in highly structured and multifaceted deals involving bespoke structures.

Ms. Kelban regularly advises on transactions involving:

• Asset and entity-level acquisitions and dispositions in respect of real estate based operating businesses

• Single asset and multiple property portfolio financings for a range of property types and performing and non-performing loan assets

• Mezzanine financings, preferred equity structures, equity investments, joint ventures, and equity recapitalizations

• Workouts, restructurings, and distressed and performing loan sales

• Foreign investors with respect to all types of in-bound US acquisitions, joint ventures, and financings

A collaborative and creative problem solver, Ms. Kelban works closely with clients to understand their key business needs. She delivers pragmatic, commercially driven advice, with a focus on building consensus among key stakeholders and achieving a client’s strategic objectives. She is regularly recognized in leading legal publications, including Chambers USA and The Legal 500.

Ms. Kelban is actively involved in pro bono and community service initiatives. She provides pro bono counsel to nonprofit organizations and schools, including the Girls Global Academy (GGA), an all-girls public charter high school in Washington, D.C. Ms. Kelban is also a member of the Beacon Group, which provides grants to local New York organizations supporting underserved populations.

In 2020, Ms. Kelban was elected to the American College of Real Estate Lawyers, an invitation-only organization comprising leading real estate lawyers across the US.