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LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – July 1, 2025 – Allen Matkins announced today that it has elected Miles Carter, A. Andrew Demirchyan, Joseph P. Dzida, Jennifer Jeffers, John Jefferson, Max E. Rawn, Kelly Smith, and Shauna E. Woods to the partnership. These new partners represent the Real Estate, Litigation, Corporate, and Land Use, Environmental & Natural Resources practice groups and are based across our Downtown Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Orange County offices.
“We congratulate this outstanding group of new partners,” says Jeff Patterson, managing partner of Allen Matkins. “Miles, Andrew, Joe, Jennifer, John, Max, Kelly, and Shauna represent the best of Allen Matkins and exemplify our core values of respect, collegiality, client service, and giving back to our communities. We are very proud of them.”
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Miles represents residential, commercial, and industrial builders in the development and sale of master-planned communities, mixed-use developments, urban infill, and high-rise condominium projects. Miles excels in preparing legal management and governing instruments and related sales documents that comply with the current regulations and guidelines imposed by the California Department of Real Estate and other federal, state, and local government regulatory agencies.
Andrew represents developers, owners, and financial institutions in complex commercial real estate transactions, including secured lending, acquisitions, dispositions, and commercial leasing matters. Prior to joining Allen Matkins, Andrew served as the Deputy White House Liaison for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), a White House-appointed position where he acted as Senior Advisor to Secretary Julián Castro for presidential personnel and appointments.
Joe advises clients on a range of real estate matters, with a particular focus on leasing transactions, in which he represents landlords and tenants in both large- and small-scale datacenter, office, retail, industrial, medical, shopping center, and mixed-use real estate projects across the country. Some of the clients Joe has assisted include large tech companies, global real estate investment firms and asset management divisions of global insurance companies.
Jennifer counsels clients on complex land use and natural resources matters arising from the development of renewable energy, residential, commercial, medical, and mixed-use projects. She guides private, nonprofit, and public sector entities through all phases of project development, from acquisition and due diligence to environmental review, entitlements, and permitting. Jennifer has particular expertise in natural resources issues arising under state and federal law, including those involving endangered species, aquatic resources, and wetlands. She has extensive experience advising clients on state housing legislation and strategies to streamline residential project entitlements.
John serves a range of clients in complex real estate transactions, including representing clients in acquisitions, dispositions, development projects, joint ventures, and secured financings. In his practice, John has represented both purchasers and sellers in acquisitions and sales of various types of commercial real estate, including hotels, industrial properties, medical centers, retail centers, apartment buildings, office complexes, and mixed-use properties. John has a broad range of experience in the hospitality industry, in particular, and has represented clients on full-service, limited-service, franchised, and brand-managed hotel deals. He has also represented borrowers and lenders in a variety of secured transactions.
Max represents lenders and borrowers in connection with a wide range of real estate and non-real estate financing transactions, including construction loans, mezzanine loans, commercial mortgage loans, secured and unsecured syndicated loans, letters of credit, asset-based loans, and factoring arrangements. He represents banks and other financial institutions in loan workouts and restructurings and advises both lenders and borrowers on matters related to UCC Article 9, loan enforcement, and foreclosure.
Kelly Smith represents developers, owners, and lenders in complex construction disputes on a wide variety of projects, including infrastructure, commercial, hospitality, and mixed-use developments. She also provides strategic counseling to help clients structure construction contracts and navigate project close-out. Kelly is an Associate Fellow in the Construction Lawyers Society of America, an invitation-only honorary society for distinguished construction attorneys, and a member of the National Association of Women in Construction. In addition to her construction practice, Kelly represents clients in high-stakes commercial litigation, including real estate, business, and employment disputes.
Shauna represents real estate, entertainment, and technology companies in a variety of disputes in state court, in federal court, and in arbitration. She helps clients solve complex problems and navigate difficult situations, and her experience includes negotiating and enforcing settlements, counseling clients on the best resolutions for their business, and working out a variety of business disputes through negotiation.
Allen Matkins, a law firm with over 270 attorneys, was founded with deep roots in real estate and has leveraged that foundation to grow and build prominent litigation, corporate, tax, labor and employment, land use, and environmental practices allowing us to partner with clients across myriad industries and markets. For more than 45 years, Allen Matkins has worked with clients drawn to us by our reputation for market leading solutions, pragmatism, exemplary quality, approachability, and our unparalleled network of contacts and connections in business and government. For more information about Allen Matkins please visit www.allenmatkins.com.
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