Seyfarth's Distressed Asset Resolution Team Featured and Paul Mattingly Quoted in Atlanta Business Chronicle
“Distressed Real Estate Equals Work for Lawyers”

Seyfarth's Distressed Asset Resolution Team (DART) was featured and Paul Mattingly was quoted in the February 8, 2010 Atlanta Business Chronicle article, "Distressed Real Estate Equals Work for Lawyers." The article discussed how the growing volume of commercial real estate assets with financial problems has local law firms beefing up to meet the demands of owners, borrowers and buyers looking for solutions. The article noted that some firms, including Seyfarth, have set up units within their operations to handle the surge. According to Paul, Seyfarth established DART in 2006, "When we saw the down cycle coming, and wanted to get out in front of it." The team is made up of attorneys drawn from various practice areas, including: real estate finance, bankruptcy and real estate litigation.

Paul explained that the DART practice is weighted toward working with institutional borrowers and lenders working out solutions for troubled deals. He pointed out that working out deals based upon debt from commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) presents unique challenges, “in part because there is a lot less discretion on the part of the trustees and the special servicers in these situations than there is in a more typical loan scenario.” He concluded, “There is a significant amount of commercial real estate debt that has to be refinanced over the next three to four years — and it’s safe to say that there is a dearth of refinancing sources. The end result is that there is going to be a lot of distressed asset work for us over the next two to three years.”