Ellis Law Partners, LLP specializes in real property, corporate, business and entertainment law.
Ellis Law Partners LLP specializes in real property, business and entertainment law. Our attorneys have big firm experience and superior educational credentials. We also have decades of experience practicing law, and we have devoted a large part of our careers to working on the "client" side – we've seen hundreds of deals, often from the ground up, and we've got first-hand experience structuring and building successful businesses and business ventures over the years. We also pride ourselves on being efficient, pragmatic, creative and dedicated. We love what we do, and we believe our firm allows us to do what we do best: finding solutions for our clients, moving those solutions forward to produce actual results, and doing so at an extremely competitive price.
Our Partners have broad experience representing lenders, both institutional and private, as well as borrowers, including owners, developers and investors. We’ve handles all types of loans ranging from intercompany lines of credit, to commercial construction loans, to billion-dollar mezzanine debt invested alongside international lenders. We’ve been active during several financial cycles, and have proven to be nimble and creative thinkers with superior technical skills. We pride ourselves at moving quickly and expeditiously, with the experience and judgment to know when to focus on details, and how to surmount obstacles and avoid delays.
During early the 1990’s, we handled individual and bulk loan sales and acquisitions, as well as loan workouts, restructuring and forbearances on behalf of institutional lenders as well as private investors. We represented international investors, as well as publicly traded REITs, during the recovery that followed. After the 2008 credit crisis, we helped raise private portfolio capital to fund distressed projects, and to meet the demands of opportunistic investors. During the last ten years, we’ve documented and closed hundreds of construction and bridge loans, as well as acquisition and permanent or takeout financing. In recent years, we’ve helped our lender clients develop creative financing solutions to stay competitive in a saturated market.
Our Partners have structured, documented, negotiated and closed joint venture transactions on behalf of limited partners, debt- and equity-investors, including private equity funds, and also on behalf of project sponsors and developers. We’ve spent significant time working in-house, and are keenly aware of the client’s need for operational control and flexibility, as well as the limits set by institutional lenders and regulatory authorities. We’ve formed sidecar investment vehicles, while we’ve also structured and closed numerous private offerings, including equity and debt funds. We’ve helped our clients set up new businesses, as well as restructure, convert or merge existing businesses, so as to optimize their business advantages, tax status or operational flexibility.
Our Partners have served, and continue to serve, as General Counsel for businesses in the real estate sector, and in the entertainment, technology and professional sports sectors. In that capacity, we have developed a solid understanding of federal, state and local licensing and compliance, and we are well versed in best practices across various industries and markets. We have represented utility agencies, and have also appeared before administrative boards and commissions. We understand copyright, licensing and trademark laws. We have experience with land use and CEQA, as well as permitting and compliance.
Our Our Partners have first-hand experience on real estate acquisitions and sales, at all stages of the process starting with due diligence, documenting, negotiating, structuring and closing. We’ve worked on all types of projects, including office buildings, industrial and storage facilities, senior living centers, hotel and hospitality properties, as well as multi-family, retail and mixed use projects. We’ve handled land acquisitions for a publicly traded national homebuilder. We’ve also handled leasing on behalf of landlords and tenants, including retail leases for national chains, and complex office leases for large companies.
James Ellis brings to our practice a wealth of experience, with clients in film, television, animation, sports, music and publishing.
We draw on our team of seasoned legal professionals as needed to manage deal volume, contribute legal expertise and maximum cost efficiency.
Ellis Law Partners’ principals each bring with them over thirty years of transactional experience and client service, in situations ranging from localized real estate and entertainment transactions to international financings on world-famous commercial and media properties, involving money center commercial banks, sovereign wealth funds, high net worth individuals, and publicly traded REITs.
Kirsten is a transactional attorney and licensed real estate broker with 30 years' experience practicing law, primarily in the real property, land use and transactional sector.
Private Practice. Kirsten began her career at Pircher, Nichols & Meeks, and then moved on to Paul, Hastings LLP, as an associate in the firm's Real Estate and Land Use Department, working on a wide variety of transactions including land use, development, finance, leasing, joint ventures, acquisitions and sales, and representing regional and national developers, Fortune 100 companies, Hollywood studios, and institutional lenders. In 1995, Kirsten joined Stern Neubauer Greenwald and Pauly (now Shoreline, a Law Corporation), where, among other clients, she acted as primary outside counsel for a NYSE-traded healthcare REIT, as well as national homebuilders and financial services companies.
In-House. In 2003, Kirsten became lead in-house counsel for a Los Angeles-based family office with extensive real estate holdings and corporate investments. There, she was responsible for negotiating, documenting and closing real estate transactions, including acquisitions of land, residential, retail, commercial and hotel properties, leasing of commercial and retail properties, refinancing residential and commercial properties, and structuring equity investments in joint ventures and other projects. Kirsten also supervised and managed ongoing litigation matters, including the successful defense of lawsuits over condominium HOA claims, construction defects and premises liability.
PCS Fund. In 2009, Kirsten was part of the executive team that launched Partners Capital Solutions, Inc. and its affiliated private lending fund Partners Capital Solutions Fund, LP. As General Counsel to the PCS Fund and its affiliated entities, in addition to corporate governance matters, Kirsten was responsible for documenting, negotiating and closing hundreds of commercial loan transactions, primarily construction loans, bridge loans, and lines of credit; for handling licensing and compliance; and for structuring and managing private offerings, joint ventures, loan participations, loan workouts, loan sales, and other debt and equity investments for the funds and their equity participants, affiliates and investors. Kirsten was responsible for closing over $1 Billion in commercial loan transactions, with an annual volume consisting of dozens of transactions and over $200 Million annually.
Since 2017, Kirsten has been one of Southern California’s leading attorneys in the senior housing investment sector, structuring joint ventures, equity investments, acquisitions, dispositions and financing on assisted living, senior housing, memory care and similar housing projects across the United States.
Education, Background and Credentials. Kirsten earned her J.D. from UCLA School of Law in 1989; and received her A.B. in history, magna cum laude, from Harvard University in 1985. Kirsten has resided in Brentwood and Pacific Palisades for her entire life, and is a graduate of Palisades High School, Class of 1981. She is an Elder at Palisades Presbyterian Church, and serves on the Homeowners' Board for the Palisades Country Estates. Together with her husband James, she has raised three children. Member of the California State Bar; and Broker, licensed by the California Bureau of Real Estate
James has thirty years of experience in a broad based legal, transactional and operational career, serving clients throughout the corporate, real estate, sports, entertainment and technology industries.
Private Practice. James began his career at Munger Tolles and Olson, where he worked on sophisticated real estate, aerospace, sports, and corporate matters. He left private practice in 1999. He re-entered private practice in 2013, as a Partner at Glaser Weil Fink Howard Avchen & Shapiro LLP, where James advised a wide range of clients in a variety of areas including corporate debt and equity transactions, motion picture and media financing, fund formation, real estate, corporate and entertainment joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, video games, book publishing, intellectual property rights, professional sports, private equity, mezzanine debt, art and talent transactions. Representative matters included the structuring, documentation and closing of the mezzanine financing of films such as Blade Runner 2049, as well as the structured refinancing of the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas, and numerous other properties in California and throughout the world.
In House. In 1999, James left private practice to serve as Executive Officer and General Counsel for a talent management company (Artists Management Group) with clients in film, television, animation, sports, music and publishing; and he served as EVP of Finance and Administration for a television production company (Artists Television Group), as well as General Counsel/Executive Officer for a motion picture production company and related joint ventures.
AMSELF, LLC. From 2004 until 2012, James was responsible for day-to-day operations, as well as legal and business affairs matters, in the areas of private equity, real estate, talent management, film and television, video games, professional sports, consulting, publishing, restaurants, art and start-up technology investing. He was the Managing Director of a privately held venture making convertible debt and equity investments in start up and technology companies, primarily in Los Angeles, Silicon Valley and New York. James also represented the company and its affiliates in court proceedings, arbitrations and mediations.
Since 2017, James has been primarily engaged as general counsel for Tang Media Partners and its affiliated companies in the United States, Cayman Islands, Europe and China. He was additionally responsible for the liquidation and windup of the operations of Open Road Films in 2018, and has been acting as lead counsel for IM Global and its affiliates and has structured and managed dozens of domestic and international entertainment financings, joint ventures and distribution arrangements.
From 1997 to the present, James has also been active representing high net worth individuals in a host of transactions, including the pursuit of professional sports franchises in the NFL and NBA.
A native of Boston, Massachusetts, James received his undergraduate degree in Philosophy at Harvard College, and his law degree from UCLA, where he graduated 2nd in his class. Prior to attending law school, he was a Vice President of Sonnenblick-Goldman, a real estate investment bank, where he participated in the origination and placement of approximately $1 billion of real estate debt and equity financings throughout the US. Prior to that, he worked in the real estate development industry as a project manager for Zeckendorf Company, a leading commercial and residential developer in New York, NY.
Tracy has over 17 years of legal and mediation experience including real estate, employment, family law and commercial litigation defense. Tracy began her career at Musick Peeler & Garrett as an associate in the firm’s Litigation Department, working on pre-litigation investigation, pleadings, formulating and implementing comprehensive discovery plans, dispositive motions and trial preparation.
In 1994, Tracy joined Stern Neubauer Greenwald and Pauly (now Shoreline, a Law Corporation), where she provided employment legal services to a vast array of corporate clients, including areas such as employment discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination and trade secret protection. She also managed ongoing litigation matters, including construction defect and judicial foreclosure cases.
In 1998, Tracy joined Abrolat & Teren (now Abrolat Law PC) where she negotiated and drafted employment contracts, consulting agreements, non-compete and severance agreements. She also drafted and reviewed employee handbooks and policies, pleadings, and discovery documents, argued motions, took and defended depositions and engaged in settlement negotiations and trial preparation.
In 2009, Tracy joined Wendy R. Landes Family Law & Mediation, where she resolved family law cases through non-litigation alternatives such as mediation, collaborative law and settlement. She executed and performed duties such as participating in mediations, preparing mediation summary letters, filing of marriage dissolution documents and drafting stipulated judgments of dissolution, parenting plans and pre-nuptial and co-habitation agreements.
In 2013, Tracy joined Ellis Law Partners, LLP, where she is responsible for documenting and closing commercial loan transactions, such as construction loans, bridge loans and lines of credit. She is responsible for drafting loan agreements, promissory notes, deeds of trust, indemnity agreements, guaranties, tenant estoppels and assignments. She also handles title insurance and uniform commercial code matters.
Education, Background and Credentials. Tracy earned her J.D. from Loyola Law School. Order of the Coif, in 1993; and received her B.A. in Sociology from UCLA, Magna Cum Laude, in 1987. Tracy is a graduate from Santa Monica High School in 1983. Tracy also firmly believes in giving back to the community through her commitment of time to a variety of non-profit organizations, such as educational outreach and OPCC. Together with her husband Rick, she has raised three children. Member of the California State Bar.
1515 Palisades Drive, Suite N3
Pacific Palisades, CA 90272
P: (424) 280-4109
C: (310) 907-6168
E: contact@ellislawpartners.com
H: Monday - Friday: 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM