Joel H. Rothstein

Joel H. Rothstein is an international real estate and structured finance lawyer. He leads Greenberg Traurig’s real estate practice in Asia where he serves as Chair of the Asia Real Estate Practice. Based in Tokyo, he splits his time across the firm’s offices in Asia where he advises investment banks, financial institutions, private equity funds, sovereign wealth funds, real estate developers, and investors across all major Asia markets and across all key asset classes. He also leads the firm’s practice in advising Asia-based outbound cross-border investors in structuring, implementing, and managing equity and debt investments into the United States, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East.

Whether Joel is advising a United States-based private equity fund in structuring a tokutei mokuteki kaisha (TMK) in Japan for a landmark Tokyo office building investment, a European-based insurance company in forming a Sino-foreign joint venture for a logistics facilities portfolio in China, a Singapore-based fund sponsor in creating an offshore fund targeting data center assets in the United States, or a Korea-based asset management company in extending a mezzanine loan secured by a portfolio of hotel and high end retail assets across Europe, clients rely upon the deep experience he brings to cross-border deals. Joel offers clients knowledge of optimal legal and tax structures for cross-border deals, the ability to navigate complex governmental reviews and approvals relating to foreign investment, an understanding of the complexity and timing of repatriating investment capital through multiple jurisdictions, and practical knowledge of local market practices and procedures required to get a deal done.

With more than 25 years of experience in Asia, Joel has structured, documented, and implemented a number of landmark transactions and investment programs in the region, including the first rating agency rated commercial mortgaged-backed securities transaction in Japan, the first non-performing loan securitization transactions completed in Japan and in South Korea, the first comingled USD/RMB real estate fund sponsored by a Chinese financial institution, and the first international style non-recourse real estate loans by financial institutions in both Japan and China. In the Asia outbound investment market into United States and European real estate, he has advised in transactions valued in excess of 12 billion U.S. Dollars, ranging from acquisitions and dispositions, to financing, to strategic joint ventures, to fund investments, across all major asset classes and markets in the United States and Europe.

A New York native, in addition to practicing law, Joel is an urban designer whose work prior to becoming an attorney included numerous architecture and urban design projects around the world, from Cartagena, Colombia, South America to Hoboken, New Jersey.

Concentrations

•Real estate venture formation and complex cross-border joint ventures
•Fund vehicle formation and management
•Real estate finance including senior, mezzanine and preferred equity structures
•Asset securitization and secondary trading of loan assets
•Non-performing loan (NPL) and hard asset portfolio acquisitions and dispositions
•Property acquisitions and dispositions
•Real estate equity and debt capital markets, including REITs
•Asset and property management
•Leasing, franchising, servicing, and operation agreements
•Construction and development
•Data center development, operations and finance
•Hotel and resort finance, development, and management
•Infrastructure projects and public-private partnerships

Recognition & Leadership

Awards & Accolades

•Listed, IFLR1000, 'Highly Regarded - Banking,' 2024
•Listed, The Best Lawyers in Japan, Real Estate Law, 2024-2027
•Listed, The Best Lawyers in America, Real Estate Law, 2020-2026
•Listed, Lawdragon, 500 Leading Global Real Estate Lawyers, 2024-2025
•Team Member, a Law360 'Real Estate Practice Group of the Year,' 2023
•Listed, Chambers Global Guide, “China - Banking Finance”
•Listed, Chambers Asia-Pacific Guide,
•'Japan - Real Estate: Registered Foreign Lawyers,” 2026
•“China - Real Estate”
•Listed, The Legal 500 Asia Pacific
•“Japan - Real Estate and Construction”
•“Hall of Fame,” 2024-2026
•“China - Banking & Finance”
•“China - Real Estate”
•Team Member, a Law360 “Hospitality Practice Group of the Year,” 2021