Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Page 3
Seyfarth Shaw Adds Real Estate Partner to Downtown Los Angeles Office
Century City Bar Association Names ‘Lawyers of the Year’
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Seyfarth Shaw LLP yesterday announced the addition of real estate attorney Thomas J. Masenga as a partner in the firm’s downtown Los Angeles office.
Masenga, who made the move from Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP, opined that the “California real estate market is showing signs of a market rebound and Seyfarth Shaw provides an excellent platform to capture that work.” He said he was “excited to be part of the firm as it looks to further strengthen its practice on the West Coast and nationally,” noting Seyfath’s “first-rate reputation for real estate law” and “broad portfolio of services.”
Paul P. Mattingly, chair of Seyfarth’s Real Estate department, remarked that Masenga “brings superb real estate credentials on both the equity and lending sides of the transaction,” and predicted the attorney will play “a major role for us in California in addition to nationwide as we continue to strengthen our national institutional real estate practice.”
Kenwood C. Youmans, a member of Seyfarth’s executive committee, praised Masenga as “a top-notch real estate and finance attorney recognized for his talents by peers and clients alike,” as well as “a terrific person who will add much to the social fabric of our Los Angeles offices.”
Masenga’s practice focuses on secured lending, equity investments, acquisitions and dispositions, and debt restructuring and workouts, according to his firm biography. He also has experience with development, leasing, residential subdivision and securitized loans.
He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Notre Dame and cum laude from Loyola Law School before being admitted to practice in 1977.
The attorney is a member of the National Association of Public Pension Attorneys, the Pension Real Estate Association, and the Los Angeles County Bar Association.
In other news, the Century City Bar Association yesterday named the recipients of its “Lawyers of the Year” award.
This year’s honorees are trusts and estates specialist Leah M. Bishop, litigator Carla Christofferson, entertainment attorney Carole E. Handler, intellectual property lawyer James D. Nguyen, and bankruptcy practitioner Thomas E. Patterson.
CCBA President Louis R. Dienes praised this year’s honorees as having “distinguished themselves not only as being among the most accomplished lawyers in their respective fields of expertise, but as leaders in Southern California’s law and business community as well.”
President-Elect Jane Shay Wald remarked that “Century City is home to some of the most sophisticated and respected attorneys in the fields of entertainment, intellectual property, high-stakes litigation, trusts & estates, and bankruptcy,” and the organization’s 2011 honorees “have set examples not only for legal excellence, but for dedication to the legal community as a whole.”
Bishop is a partner with Loeb & Loeb LLP. She is a graduate of Brandeis University and Columbia law school. Bishop was admitted to practice in 1981.
Christofferson, a partner with O’Melveny & Myers, attended the University of North Dakota and Yale law school before earning her law license in 1992.
Handler is of counsel to Lathrop & Gage. She graduated from Radcliffe College prior to attending law school at the University of Pennsylvania and joining the State Bar in 1987.
Nguyen is a partner with Wildman, Harrold, Allen & Dixon LLP. He was admitted to practice in 1995 after completing his undergraduate education at UCLA and earning his law degree from USC.
Patterson, a partner with Klee, Tuchin, Bogdanoff & Stern LLP attended University of Manitoba before graduating from law school at Oxford University. He joined the California State Bar in 1987.
The awards are slated to be presented at the CCBA’s 43rd Annual Installation Banquet and Awards Ceremony at the Hyatt Regency Hotel on March 1.
Copyright 2011, Metropolitan News Company