Allen Matkins Appoints New Leadership Roles in Various Departments and Practice Areas

Allen Matkins, a California-based full service real estate and business law firm, announced today that partner Scott Leipzig has been named Chair of the firm’s Litigation Department; partners Kate Kraus and Jessica Chu were named Co-Chairs of the firm’s Tax & Joint Ventures Group; and partner Kamran Javandel has been named Co-Chair of the firm’s Land Use, Environmental & Natural Resources Group.

"Scott, Kate, Jessica and Kamran possess tremendous leadership skills, and have a strong vision for our future," said Jeff Patterson, Managing Partner at Allen Matkins. “The key to Allen Matkins' success remains our reputation for consistently delivering excellent service and results, while fostering a culture that values collaboration and mutual support of all of our lawyers. I am confident these new leaders will help us continue to grow strategically across practices and industries while maintaining our entrepreneurial spirit and culture of trust that drives success."

As the new Chair of the firm’s global Litigation Department, Scott Leipzig brings to bear substantial experience handling complex real estate, partnership, finance, insurance, entertainment, and commercial disputes in state and federal courts, as well as domestic and international arbitration. He is a go-to lawyer for some of the most hotly contested and difficult litigation matters that Allen Matkins handles. He was recently named to the Los Angeles Business Journal’s Top Litigators & Trial Lawyers and prevailed in a jury trial that was named Top Defense Verdict of 2019 by the Daily Journal.

Kate Kraus has extensive experience in tax planning and structuring for partnerships, REITs, Opportunity Zone funds, and other types of investments and taxpayers, including formations, financing transactions, acquisitions, restructurings, debt workouts, liquidations, and bankruptcies. Kate's clients include real estate funds, private equity funds, hedge funds, Fortune 100 companies, REITs, mid-market companies, high net worth individuals, and Opportunity Zone funds. Kate is also a leading authority on the new partnership audit rules that were enacted by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, and she wrote the Bloomberg BNA Tax Management Portfolio on those rules.

Jessica Chu’s practice focuses on structuring, negotiating and documenting complex joint ventures and business transactions for equity investors, financial institutions, developers, and others. Jessica has counseled clients regarding joint ventures and transactions covering a broad range of real property types, including undeveloped land, industrial, master-planned communities, hotels and resorts, commercial office, retail projects, shopping centers, and mixed-use projects. Jessica assists clients in all phases of joint ventures, including formation, operation, restructuring, partner disputes, and wind-down.

Kamran Javandel uniquely combines extensive environmental law experience with his background as an environmental toxicologist and consultant to help clients overcome the most challenging environmental hurdles. His practice focuses on litigating environmental contamination disputes; advising on compliance with environmental laws and regulations; resolving government agency investigations; obtaining project entitlements, permits, and other approvals; and advising on environmental aspects of real estate and business transactions.

About Allen Matkins

Allen Matkins, founded in 1977, is a California-based law firm with more than 200 attorneys in four major metropolitan areas of California: Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, and San Francisco. The firm's areas of focus include real estate, construction, land use, environmental, and natural resources; corporate and securities, real estate and commercial finance, bankruptcy, restructurings and creditors' rights, joint ventures, and tax; labor and employment; and trials, litigation, risk management, and alternative dispute resolution in all of these areas. For more information about Allen Matkins please visit www.allenmatkins.com.