Ira J Waldman

Practice Areas

Ira is one of the leading real estate lawyers in the United States, having expanded his historic real estate finance experience into all manners of real estate development representations. As described by his clients in the Chambers & Partners publication, Ira is "incredibly smart, fantastically practical, hard-working, and a delight to work with." Ira is a deal maker and consensus builder who earns the appreciation of clients and adverse parties alike.”

Beginning his career in 1976, as in house real estate counsel at Union Mutual Life Insurance Company (now known as UNUM), Ira found his calling in representing the company's interests in real estate financings nationwide. The wide and varied nature of the transactions and the structural elements involved led to a lifelong interest in the intellectual side of the practice. Ira utilizes this wellspring of knowledge and experience for the benefit of his clients, be they national and local lenders, on the one hand, or developers and borrowers, on the other. The breadth of his knowledge in all facets of real estate and commercial law, including secured lender remedies, ownership entity formation, property acquisition and development, leasing and workouts, has only served to enhance his finance representation capabilities.

Public-Private Partnerships have been a passion of Ira's since his early involvement in the redevelopment process in the portions Marina del Rey, California owned by the County of Los Angeles and ground leased to a variety of developers for a variety of uses. The typical structure is a ground lease from the governmental entity sometimes accompanied by a development agreement with the governmental entity. Within that structure the developer/lessee commits to develop the improvements and to pay as rent a percentage of the revenues generated by the project and a percentage of the increase in value of the project upon a sale. Among the issues that arise for negotiations are the extent and timing of the development (including public infrastructure), the term of the lease and extensions, rent structure, adjustments and renegotiation provisions, and future redevelopment issues in a creative partnership. The ability to incorporate the needs of both the governmental entity and developer is the key to a successful result.

Professional Memberships

Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section, American Bar Association, Section Council 2006 to 2012; Family Farm Preservation Project Task Force, 2003-2011; Law Practice Management Section; Joint Editorial Board for Uniform Real Property Acts of the Uniform Law Commission, Member, appointed by American College of Real Estate Lawyers, 2001-2017 and 2019 to present; Real Property Section of the State Bar of California, Secured Transactions Law Reform Subcommittee; Joint Committee of the Real Property Law Section, State Bar of California and the Real Property Law Section, Los Angeles County Bar Association on Legal Opinions in California Real Estate Transactions, Member; Law Practice Management & Technology Section, State Bar of California, Member; Real Property Section, Los Angeles County Bar Association, Executive Committee Member and Former Chair; American College of Real Estate Lawyers, elected 1996; Board of Governors, 2002-2006; 2008-2014; Attorney Opinion Letters Committee; Practice Technology Committee, Member and Former Chair; Public Policy Task Force, Member and Former Chair; Association of Real Estate and Infrastructure, elected 2005; Uniform Law Commission - Uniform Act Drafting Committees - Uniform Nonjudicial Foreclosure Act (2002), Uniform Assignment of Rents Act (2005), Uniform Easement Relocation Act (2021) and Uniform Mortgage Modification Act (current)