Educational Luncheon Program - Cornell Club, NYC - September 24, 2019

Market cycles in commercial real estate usually last five to seven years. The market is in its tenth year of rising values and relatively trouble-free loans. But lenders are starting to see more stress, workouts, and defaults. They will very likely soon need to dust off some skills they haven’t used for a while.

Toward that end, the MBAofNY has invited Richard Fries, a senior real estate partner at Sidley Austin LLP, to make a luncheon presentation on today’s trends and developments in commercial real estate loan workouts and enforcement of remedies. Richard will be introduced, and the program will be moderated by, Joshua Stein, the sole principal of Joshua Stein PLLC and a member of the MBAofNY board. The program will cover defaults, loan acceleration, guaranty enforcement, receivership, lender liability (old and new flavors), workout “hot tips,” a template forbearance agreement, and deed-in-lieu of foreclosure strategies. We will focus on recent changes in the law and how those have affected lender practices in dealing with defaults.

Our speaker, Richard Fries, handles both substantial mortgage loan closings as well as defaulted loans and foreclosures. Equally comfortable in a courtroom and a conference room, Fries is one of the most prominent commercial real estate lawyers in the United States and a consistently entertaining speaker. He is a member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers, and “one of the premier real estate litigators in the City,” according to the Chambers guides.