Richard Chesley practices in the areas of corporate restructuring, with an emphasis on bankruptcy transactions both in the United States and internationally.

He has served as restructuring counsel in a number of chapter 11 proceedings, including the recently completed chapter 11 cases of Vertellus Specialty, Inc., Orchard Supply Hardware Stores, Velti plc, PJ Finance, Inc. and Trident Microsystems, Inc. and its subsidiaries in Asia and Europe. He has served as debtors' counsel in a number of other chapter 11 proceedings, including Kaiser Aluminum Corporation, National Century Financial Enterprises, Federated Department Stores, Elder-Beerman Stores, Montgomery Ward, Purina Mills, The Loewen Group, PFF Bankcorp, Contech LLC, Morton Industrial Group, Vermillion, Inc, Fairfield Residential and its subsidiaries and East West Resort Development. Richard also led a number of out-of-court restructurings, including Norwood Promotional Products, Examination Management Services Inc. and Educational Media Publishing Group. He represented Abengoa US Holding LLC and affiliates in US Bankruptcy Court and represented them in the sale of their US assets. Richard also represents the Employees Retirement System of the Government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

Chambers USA has repeatedly recognized Richard as a top Bankruptcy and Restructuring lawyer. Richard has been named to the BTI Client Service All-Star Team for Law Firm, repeatedly recommended in The Legal 500 United States for his Corporate Restructuring practice and selected as one of the top outstanding restructuring lawyers by Turnarounds & Workouts and Global M&A Network. He is also recognized as an Illinois Super Lawyer and included in the, Who's Who Legal in the Restructuring & Insolvency category. Recently, Rick Chesley has also been recognized by Turnarounds & Workouts as one of the 2017 Outstanding Lawyers in their December Special Report.

Johann Dahan is a graduate of New York University, HEC Paris and London School of Economics with an Executive MBA. With over ten years of experience in international real estate development he has an extensive global understanding in developing, negotiating, structuring and leading business opportunities, M&As and financing structures. He was previously Director of Global Strategy & Business Development at Bean & Co as well as SVP, Global Business Development at LR Group. He currently holds the position of Vice President of Global Corporate Transactions and is leading Selina´s global expansion into new and existing markets.

In 1976, at the age of 23, Jonathan G. Davis undertook his first major real estate project, an 83-unit renovation of a turn-of-the century brownstone city block. With this high quality development, Jon set the tone for a career focused on leading-edge projects.

During the early 1980’s, Davis was a leader in Boston’s historic redevelopment boom. His many noteworthy successes included the conversion of the Brimmer Street Garage into the nation’s first condominium for cars and the redevelopment of Newbury Street’s landmark Exeter Theater into retail and office space.

In the early 1990’s, Jon’s company was one of the first in New England to embark upon the acquisition of distressed debt and commercial properties in that post crash period and was once again one of the most active distressed asset investors on the East Coast in the 2009-2012 market correction.

In the past twenty-five years, the company has significantly broadened its geographic and product focus and has completed developments and acquisitions comprising over fifteen million square feet of space and 7,000 residential units, representing an investment of approximately US$4 billion. Today these companies are owners, developers and managers of twelve million square feet of office, healthcare, hospitality, retail and industrial properties and 5,000 multi-family units in 12 states. Additionally, they own a portfolio of real estate debt and securities with a face value in excess of US$300 million and manage three co-mingled funds with equity capital in excess of US$1.15 billion.

In 2000, Jon was chosen by Ernst and Young as New England Entrepreneur of the Year in the real estate and construction category. In 2003, Jon was honored by the Association of Fundraising Professionals with the “Leader in Philanthropy” award. In 2006, Jon’s company was named recipient of the Distinguished Real Estate Award by the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Association of Office and Industrial Properties (NAIOP). In 2014, the United Way of Massachusetts Bay awarded Jon its Norman Leventhal/Edwin Sidman Community Leadership Award. In 2015, The Boston Preservation Alliance awarded Jon its President’s Award for Excellence in Historic Preservation.

A 1975 graduate of Brandeis University, Davis is former Vice Chairman of its Board of Trustees, and Chair of its Institutional Advancement Committee; a Director and Immediate Past Board Chair of The Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston; a Director of WBUR public radio; Former Director of The Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston; and 2008 President/2009 Board Chair of the Massachusetts Chapter of NAIOP.

Ronald M. Dickerman is the President and Founder of Madison International Realty, a global real estate private equity firm managing approximately US$4.8 billion on behalf of a global roster of institutional investors with offices in New York, London, and Frankfurt. Madison has become a global leader in providing equity to real estate owners and sponsors in prime properties and portfolios in the US, UK, and Western Europe. Madison focuses on capital partner replacements, equity monetizations, and recapitalizations. Madison also has an active listed property investment program providing Pipe, property level joint venture equity as well as acting as a strategic, supportive shareholder to management teams of public property companies or private companies seeking equity. Madison’s investments have included such iconic assets as the Seagram Building, New York, Devonshire House, London and the Trianon Office Tower, Frankfurt. In addition, Madison has been an active investor in public real estate companies including Songbird/Canary Wharf Group, Taubman and Parkway Properties. It has sponsored numerous private investment vehicles on behalf of global institutional investors including pension funds, insurance companies, endowments, foundations, sovereign wealth funds, and high net worths. Madison’s portfolio spans 14 countries, 69 transactions aggregating US$45.8 billion in gross asset value.

Mr. Dickerman has over 30 years of experience focused on the analysis, acquisition, financing, management and disposition of income-producing assets such as real estate, mortgage products, healthcare properties, leased equipment, media properties, oil & gas, as well as other specialty assets. Prior to founding Madison in 2002, Mr. Dickerman was President and Founder of First Equity Realty, LLC, a real estate investment firm specializing in the acquisition of under-performing real estate assets from financial institutions.

During the period from 1987 to 1991, Mr. Dickerman was an investment banker in the Real Estate / Partnership Finance Group at Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Co., Inc., where he was responsible for the origination, analysis, structuring, acquisition, asset management, disposition and marketing of real estate and other limited partnerships.

Mr. Dickerman serves on the board of directors of the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate (AFIRE) and is an active member of INREV, the Zell Lurie Institute, and a frequent speaker on the topic of secondary investments and liquidity at real estate conferences throughout the world. Mr. Dickerman earned a MBA degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business and a BA degree from Tufts University.

Jay Epstien represents local and national owners, developers and users in all aspects of real estate transactions involving urban office buildings, shopping centers and mixed use projects.

He has been the lead lawyer on many of the largest office leases in Washington, DC, representing both landlords and tenants, including numerous law firms that have sought his counsel. He has represented major corporations in corporate real estate facilities matters throughout the United States, involving corporate relocations and disposition of significant existing facilities.

Jay is a member of DLA Piper's US Executive Committee and co-chairs the Global Real Estate practice. In addition, he is a fellow of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers, currently serving as President, and a member of the Anglo American Real Property Institute.

Linus has 17 years of experience in the European real estate industry, including fund management, investment agency and financing. Linus is responsible for investor relations, equity raising and operations.

Prior to Trinova Real Estate, Linus worked for CBRE Investors as a Director and Principal, and was responsible for transacting and managing assets across the UK.

He gained pan-European transaction experience at CBRE, where he worked on a number of large deals, including The Blackstone Group’s acquisition of a €1bn German office portfolio. He worked at Fitch on rating two large European CMBS structures. He also has extensive experience of managing multifamily residential portfolios in Sweden.

Linus has an MSc in Real Estate Economics and Finance from the London School of Economics in London, and an MSc in Building and Real Estate Economics from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. Linus sits on the London School of Economics’ Real Estate Economics and Finance Advisory Board.

Jaco is the CEO of Artisan is an entrepreneurial driven, property development and investment company focussing on brownfield regeneration projects across regional UK cities.

Our broad expertise and strategic partnerships have allowed us to successfully deliver a varied portfolio of high quality, large scale mixed-used development projects.

Our team focusses on securing undervalued assets which can be transformed or enhanced further through a combination of hands-on and creative planning, intelligent development, pro-active asset management and repositioning.

Prior to joining Artisan in 2015 Jaco spent 14 years in the UK as head of the investment division at Maitland, a global wealth advisory business, where he managed and advised private clients and institutions on portfolios of assets in excess of £2 billion. Jaco, a South African Chartered Accountant, was previously a Director at a large South African private equity and investment group.

Jaco has extensive experience and a strong track record of securing and structuring all components of acquisition and development funding, allowing the business to act quickly, confidently and efficiently throughout the development cycle.

Paul is based in the London office and has experience in all aspects of commercial real estate, with particular emphasis on investment and corporate occupier work. He advises a wide range of clients on their real estate transactions and strategy and often leads multi practice teams of lawyers on complex deals. Paul is heavily involved in cross border work in the Americas, EMEA and Asia Pac.

Paul has a special interest in sustainability in the built environment and disruption in the real estate industry. He leads DLA Piper's Green Real Estate team, innovating and developing suites of documentation and best practice in this dynamic area, including the creation of a UK Green Lease and advising both investors and occupiers on their sustainability strategy.

Paul is the client relationship partner for Unicef UK.

Paul has been at the forefront of developing DLA Piper's work involving business from Israel. He acts for many clients based in Israel as they embark on diverse business opportunities around the world. Paul manages the relationship with several Israeli clients in relation to their global business and also assists clients from outside of Israel looking for partners or advisers in Israel.

Marcus started his real estate career in 1996 with Jones Lang LaSalle, at that time Jones Lang Wootton, in Frankfurt. In 1998 he changed to the Madrid office of Jones Lang Wootton and took over the leadership of the investment department for Spain. From 2005 to 2006 Marcus headed the investment department of Savills in Madrid. In 2006 he returned to Jones Lang LaSalle as head of leasing & capital markets Germany. He was also member of the German management board of Jones Lang LaSalle. In July 2012 Marcus joined Savills as head of investment Europe and since October 2012 he is responsible for the German business as CEO Germany.

Marcus Lemli studied at the European Business School in Oestrich-Winkel, London, and Paris and finished his studies with a business graduate (Diplom-Kaufmann) and as real estate economist.

Jeremy Lustman helps lead the firm’s global Israel Country Group.

Jeremy spends much of his time physically on the ground in Israel, where he has developed a strong international network of Israeli companies, investors, entrepreneurs, bankers, accountants and local lawyers. He currently coordinates and helps lead DLA Piper's development efforts and initiatives cultivating international business emanating from Israel, serves as a liaison for Israeli clients seeking legal guidance in non-Israeli jurisdictions where DLA Piper has a presence, and provides guidance to non-Israeli clients evaluating business relationships and strategic partners within Israel.

Jeremy directly represents and oversees a significant number of key Israeli relationships that have touched upon more than 35 different international jurisdictions and more than 40 DLA Piper global offices. These clients cover virtually all sectors of the Israeli economy, including leading venture capital and private equity funds, institutional real estate investors and multiple companies in the biotech, high tech (software, Internet and semiconductors), telecommunications, industrial, food/beverage, agro-tech, defense, homeland security and gaming sectors.

In addition, Jeremy maintains a focused US-component of his practice that operates at the intersection of corporate, real estate and hospitality law. He assists public and private companies, private equity funds and cash flow lenders in business transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, senior and mezzanine debt financings, equity investments and joint ventures. In addition, Jeremy has significant experience in the hospitality industry, including transactions on hotels involving franchise and management portfolios (development and ongoing operations) as well as joint ventures and equity investments in hotel/resort projects. He also provides general corporate representation to a number of clients, among them real estate development companies.

Fabian Mühlen focuses on complex real estate transactions. He is equally familiar with share deal and asset deal structures. His work also covers sale-and-lease-back transactions, portfolio transactions and project developments, as well as advising purchasers and banks in connection with acquisition finance.

Besides Fabian's real estate transaction experience, he advises real property owners on all matters relating to asset and facility management, starting with the conclusion of lease agreements, the arrangement and negotiation of agreements with project managers, development and construction companies, legal advice during construction works and real estate related litigation.

Fabian heads jointly with Lars Reubekeul the German Real Estate group of DLA Piper.

Rainer Nonnengässer (born 1963) is CEO at MPC Micro Living Development GmbH, a subsidiary of MPC Capital, Hamburg based Investment and Asset Manager. Since 2014 MPC Capital is developing Micro Living-Apartments for students, young professionals and commuters under the brand STAYTOO.

He has more than 20 years’ experience in the real estate and financial industry. After working at the investment company Union Investment, the trained banker held various management positions and board positions within the AXA Group since 1998.

From 2010 to 2013 Mr. Nonnengässer was CEO of YOUNIQ AG (one of the market leaders for student housing). He has directed all project development, asset management, sale & purchase activities and was in charge of ongoing improvement of operational processes and operational management of student accommodation sites as well as for investor relation and institutional clients.

Sarit is the Head of Real Estate Investments at Amitim Senior Pension Funds – Israel's largest group of pension plans, with over US$100 billion AUM. In the past 4 years, with Sarit's leadership, Amitim has deployed or committed over US$1.1 billion directly and indirectly into real estate investments in a wide range of real estate products, markets and sectors.

Prior to joining Amitim, Sarit had consulted for several companies on due-diligence, site selection, and land assemblage. Sarit has worked in the commercial real estate industry since 1996, when she began her career working at Trammell Crow Company's investments department in Denver, Colorado. Sarit graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BS degree in Finance from Yeshiva University in 1995.

Ely is a rare combination of seasoned corporate executive and technology entrepreneur. In 2014, Ely was approached by Stax and Battery Ventures to begin CrediFi, a big data platform which provides clear data and analytics to all types of CRE professionals, enabling them to strategically adapt their market approach to current and prospective clients. CrediFi’s database covers over 13 trillion dollars of both CMBS and Balance-Sheet loans, on 2.3 million properties in all 50 states.

Previously, Ely served in senior roles at Thomson Reuters. As Head of Board Governance for Thomson Reuters Accelus globally, he focused on the needs of Boards of Directors and broader Senior Executive teams of Global 500 companies, across key global financial centers. Earlier, Ely served as Head of Business Law for Thomson Reuters. In this role, his remit was broad, covering Major Transactions, Industry Regulation and Disclosure – along with related Corporate Governance issues. He was also a frequent guest on Reuters TV, reviewing trends of interest to the corporate and financial markets.

Prior to Thomson Reuters, Ely founded and served as CEO of Expert Ease Software, a joint US/Israel business that was acquired by Thomson Reuters in 2004. Expert Ease developed AI-based software that automatically summarized key deal terms for everything from Capital Markets to M&A to Real Estate transactions. Its customers included corporate general counsel and leading law firms.

A lawyer by training, Ely began his career as a corporate and securities lawyer and worked on a broad range of transactions. Ely received his LL.B. from Osgoode Hall Law School of York University, his M.B.A from the Schulich School of Business of York University and his B.A. from the University of Toronto. In his “spare time” Ely enjoys running and swimming.

Jonathan Ross is a Head of International Real Estate for Migdal Insurance, Israel's largest combined insurance company and pension manager. Since early 2016 he has been responsible for the planning, execution and ongoing management of Migdal's global (non-Israel) real estate investment strategy.

Prior to Migdal, Jonathan spent 5 years as VP of Profimex, a real estate investment house, responsible for investments and operating partner relationships. Jonathan is a creative investment professional that spent the first 20 years of his career in the capital markets specializing in options, structured products and securitization.

Jonathan grew up in New York and Chicago, and then moved to Israel in 1991, initially working for the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange to create their traded options market (MAOF).

Jonathan is a licensed portfolio manager by the Israel Securities Authority and he holds a B.G.S., from The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

William Rothner, known primarily as Avi Rothner, founded Altitude Health Services, Inc., a leading healthcare company that provides a broad spectrum of consulting and support services to skilled nursing facilities in 2011.

Altitude directly services over a thousand beds with a strategic mission to provide a higher level of caring. Over the last number of years he also built his family’s leased nursing home portfolio, moving away from leasing facilities on a one-off, distressed basis. He created a purpose-built private REIT to acquire facilities specifically for third party leases. Today, that portfolio numbers nearly thirty assets providing annual rental income in excess of twenty million dollars with a focus on positioning newer operators in the SNF business.

Avi has broad transactional experience, having directed purchases, in ten states, of nearly fifty facilities totaling over three hundred million dollars. He has successfully executed deals with all manner of sellers including mom and pops, regional and super regional operators, nonprofits, governments, REITs, and other publicly traded healthcare companies. He has also successfully managed over half a billion dollars of financings with twenty-plus financial institutions.

Ted Willcocks leads the development and implementation of the real estate strategy, overseeing portfolio management, asset management and development functions for Manulife’s $23B real estate portfolio in Canada, the United States and Asia.

As a key member of the Manulife/John Hancock real estate leadership team, Ted drives investment performance for the overall portfolio and supports the strategy to expand the external private asset management business. He has an extensive background in real estate asset management and investments and brings over 20 years of industry experience to his current role and currently oversees Manulife’s Canadian Real Estate Funds platform.

Prior to joining Manulife in 2002, Ted held progressively senior positions at Brookfield Properties and CBRE. He is currently a member of the Pension Real Estate Association (PREA), the National Association of Real Estate Investment Managers (NAREIM) and the Urban Land Institute (ULI). A former US Executive Committee Board member of NAIOP, the Commercial Real Estate Development Association, he is currently an active member of the Board of Directors of the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate (AFIRE).

Founded Omnam Group in 2012, a rapidly growing global real estate development company which expertise lies in medium to large-scale hotels, aparthotels, residential and mixed-use developments. Omnam constantly seek out unique development opportunities and manage all aspects of the process, from identification and inception through to conceptualisation, delivery and completion. Today Omnam Group has ongoing projects worldwide and is well known for its vision to source and develop distinctive real estate icons. Omnam collaborates with leading hotel operators such as Marriott International and its phenomenal W Hotels brand and Rezidor hotel group as well as world renowned designers and architects, creating highly polished design-led projects while delivering significant added value to investors and local communities.

Before founding Omnam Group David has been supervising the founding of b-apart hotels including full Business strategy and construction management, which led to a strategic relations between both. David has a BA in politics affairs, economics and finance & a MRE in real estate.