Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP announced today that Allan Abshez and Elizabeth Camacho have joined its Real Estate Practice in Los Angeles. Mr. Abshez is a leading authority on land use development law and related litigation, representing both private and public clients in major developments. Ms. Camacho, a longtime colleague of Mr. Abshez, also has joined Katten as special counsel and will work with Mr. Abshez on land use issues.
The experience that the two attorneys bring to Katten covers a wide range of sectors, including housing, retail, office and commercial, master-planned communities, entertainment centers, hospitals, sports stadiums and public infrastructure.
“Allan and Elizabeth have extensive knowledge of land use and development, especially on the West Coast, which will greatly enhance the services we provide to our real estate clients in Los Angeles,” said Vincent A. F. Sergi, Katten’s National Managing Partner. “Their breadth of experience and the quality of their work make them leaders among lawyers.”
Mr. Abshez and Ms. Camacho have significant experience in California laws and regulations, including zoning, land use, redevelopment, housing and historic preservation law, as well as environmental regulations impacting air and water quality, wetlands, endangered species, congestion and growth management. Their major projects include the Farmer’s Market/Grove Shopping Center; Howard Hughes Center; and the Wilshire and Remington high-rise dwellings on Wilshire’s “Platinum Mile.”
Mr. Abshez was part of the Law360 2011 Real Estate Practice Group of the Year and the team that received the 2010 Chambers and Partners USA Award for Excellence in Real Estate. He also has been recognized as a California Super Lawyer.
In addition, Mr. Abshez plays an active leadership role in the community. He is a member of the Land Use Leadership Committee for the Los Angeles Chapter of the Urban Land Institute and of the Los Angeles Business Council Chairman’s Circle, an executive board member of the Central City Association of Los Angeles, and a cabinet member for the Real Estate and Construction Division of the Jewish Federation. Mr. Abshez also serves on various policy-making committees of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation.
His public appointments include serving as planning commissioner of the City of Los Angeles-Central Area Planning Commission, and as a mayoral appointee to the City of Los Angeles Miracle Mile Historic Preservation Overlay Zone Board and the City of Los Angeles Rent Stabilization Ordinance Oversight Committee. Mr. Abshez also served as chairman of the Los Angeles Mayor’s Task Force for the Nighttime Broadway Revitalization Project and as a member of the Los Angeles Tennis Club Board of Directors.
In addition to his many years in private practice, Mr. Abshez formerly served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for Kaufman and Broad Home Corporation. He also was a legal extern for California Supreme Court Justice Allen E. Broussard.
Mr. Abshez received his Bachelor of Arts degree, with highest honors, in 1978 from the University of California at Berkeley, where he was Phi Beta Kappa, an Edward Kraft Memorial Scholar, an Alumni Scholar, a California State Scholar, and a recipient of the Bank of America Social Sciences Award. He received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of California at Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall) in 1984, receiving American Jurisprudence Awards in Constitutional Law and Antitrust Law.
Ms. Camacho is co-president of the Latina Lawyers Bar Association, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Mexican American Bar Foundation, and a member of the Board of Trustees and chair of the Diversity Committee for Sequoyah School in Pasadena. She is a member of the Urban Land Institute, the Hispanic National Bar Association, the Mexican American Bar Association and the American Bar Association, and has served as a volunteer attorney for the Alliance for Children’s Rights Foster Child Adoption Project and as a voluntary settlement officer for the Beverly Hills Municipal Court.
Ms. Camacho graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Oberlin College and received her Juris Doctor degree from the University of California at Berkeley School of Law, where she was co-editor in chief of La Raza Law Journal.
Founded in Chicago in 1974, Katten is an international law firm with strong and growing global capabilities. The firm’s business-savvy professionals provide clients in numerous industries with sophisticated, high-value legal services with a focus on real estate, litigation, corporate, financial services, environmental, commercial finance, public finance, intellectual property, health care and wealth management.
Katten’s Los Angeles office includes more than 70 attorneys who concentrate on real estate, environmental, high-stakes litigation, intellectual property, corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, and trusts and estates matters. The Los Angeles office also is home to Katten’s Media and Entertainment Practice.
