From left, Janice Mac Avoy, partner and co-head of real estate litigation practice, Justin J. Santolli, special counsel, Ben Paull, associate, and Matthew Parrott, partner and co-head of real estate litigation practice (Photo by David Handschuh/NYLJ)

What are some of the department's most satisfying successes of the past year and why? Fried Frank's real estate litigation practice was one of the first litigation practices in the country to focus entirely on real estate litigation, and today it continues to be the leading real estate litigation practice in the United States. Our litigators represent clients in disputes involving the largest real estate assets in New York City and across the country. We consistently solve complex "bet the company" disputes, work closely with the firm's real estate department in order to resolve issues without resorting to litigation, and also develop strategic approaches and innovative solutions in a variety of matters. Within the last year, we have achieved a number of notable and high-profile successes.

We recently represented a lender in a successful resolution of a contentious litigation involving an attempt by the anchor tenant of a large shopping center, a big box home improvement store, to terminate its lease and breach its contractual obligations to the lender. Our team worked closely with the client to understand the client's ultimate business desires and to develop an aggressive approach to pursuing the issues, which resulted in our ability to obtain a favorable result in a quick and efficient manner.

We also obtained a significant victory for Brookfield/Forest City Realty Trust in successfully bringing suit to compel New York City to arbitrate significant rent reset claims relating to a site in Times Square that houses, among others, Madame Tussauds. Forest City's development of the site in the early '90s was critical to the transformation of Times Square to the family entertainment destination that it is today. One of the key issues concerning rent reset arbitration relates to how the calculation of fair market value is conducted. This case sought to resolve whether the parties' ground lease provided for a court or an arbitrator to decide how fair market value is calculated. The decision by the First Department resolved that issue in our client's favor, holding that when the parties explicitly provide that the arbitrator will decide fair market value, the courts will respect this decision. The result reinforces that parties who desire to use an arbitrator, who is familiar with the valuation issues that go to the heart of rent reset disputes, may so specify in their contract and be confident that the courts will honor that judgment.

Another successful result for our team this past year was our representation of Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in its defense of Article 78 proceeding seeking to prevent the expansion of its main campus on the Upper East Side. Last September, the Supreme Court for New York County granted HSS's motion to dismiss the petition in full. The victory marks the first instance in which the zoning provisions at issue, which govern major development projects across the City, have been subject to judicial review.

In addition to these key successes, we also represented HFZ Capital Group and Fortress Investment Group in successfully defeating a TRO motion and preliminary injunction seeking to prevent clients from exercising certain contractual rights in connection with the Shore Club Hotel in Miami Beach.

A prospective client in crisis calls and asks why your team should be retained. What is your answer? What sets us apart from other firms is our business-oriented approach to finding solutions. We are trained as business lawyers and understand that litigation is typically a means to an ultimate business end. Partnering closely with our Chambers award-winning real estate department, we always bring a practical and real-world business approach to our clients' problems. We are heavily involved in our transactional practice and therefore understand the purpose and intent of the governing documents—clients will never have to wait while we get up to speed on the underlying transaction, and we will work to achieve their transactional goals.

What traits do you respect most in opposing firms and lawyers? Courtesy, intelligence, and a sense of pragmatism are qualities that we most appreciate and value in lawyers from opposing firms.

What sorts of trends are you seeing in litigation, and what do you think will be the most important development in the law/legal business that will impact your field in the next 10 years? We expect that there will be a wave of restructuring activity in upcoming years and have already begun to see an uptick in such activity. We are also seeing more intense challenges to zoning and land use determinations of city agencies, and, for example, are counsel to the developers in the widely discussed Two Bridges development (The Council of the City of New York v. The Department of City Planning) and expect to continue to see significant litigation involving land use determinations.

What is the firm doing to ensure that future generations of litigators are ready to take the helm? We always strive to ensure that attorneys of all levels on our team are given opportunities to grow and get real-world experience, which includes providing associates with opportunities to have client interactions and practical courtroom experience, in addition to our cross-departmental trainings with our real estate department and regular client updates and articles on recent developments.