Joan B. Velazquez: Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP

Overview

Joan Velazquez is a Partner and Chair of the Real Estate Department.

Too many lawyers spend time telling their clients what cannot be done. As the Chair of Ervin Cohen & Jessup’s Real Estate practice, Joan is a creative problem solver and proven deal maker who never loses sight of her clients' business goals. She understands that her job is to mitigate her client’s legal risks while letting them realize the business opportunity in every deal.

Joan represents real estate owners, developers, investors, lenders, contractors and asset managers in connection with a wide range of projects, including the acquisition, financing, development, leasing, management and sale of:

Office buildings
Industrial parks
Shopping centers
Low-income projects
Mixed use projects
Industrial developments
Hotel/resort projects

Joan is experienced in the formation of partnerships, joint ventures, limited liability companies and arranging complex capital structures, including highly leveraged mezzanine financing, subordinated lending arrangements and other creative solutions. Having structured, documented and closed more than one billion dollars of financing transactions over the past years, she guides clients with distressed properties successfully restructuring existing debt.

Additionally, Joan’s tax background gives her a competitive advantage when structuring deals so she can increase the net return to her clients.

Joan received her J.D. from the University of Southern California Law Center. While at USC, she was a Judicial Extern for the Honorable Justice Otto Kaus.