What Is Real Estate Law in BigLaw?

Real estate law in BigLaw is nothing like the residential closings you might picture. We're talking about billion-dollar commercial developments, REIT formations, and complex financing structures.

What BigLaw Real Estate Lawyers Do

BigLaw real estate practices focus on large-scale commercial transactions: office towers, shopping centers, hotels, industrial portfolios, and mixed-use developments. The work includes:

• Negotiating purchase and sale agreements for commercial properties
• Structuring joint ventures between developers and investors
• Handling real estate finance (mortgage loans, mezzanine financing, construction loans)
• Advising REITs on acquisitions, dispositions, and compliance
• Managing ground leases and development agreements

The Day-to-Day

Junior associates draft and negotiate ancillary deal documents, review title and survey materials, manage due diligence on property portfolios, and coordinate closings. The work is transactional and detail-oriented, with a tangible element since you can often see the physical properties you're working on.

Why People Like It

Real estate has a reputation for better work-life balance than M&A or capital markets. Deals have more predictable timelines, and all-nighters are less common (though not unheard of). The work is also concrete in a way other practices aren't: you're dealing with physical assets that you can point to.

Exit Options

Real estate lawyers move to REITs, real estate private equity firms, developers, and in-house real estate departments at major corporations. The skill set is specialized enough to be valuable and broad enough to be versatile.

See which firms have strong real estate practices in our firm directory.