McDermott Will & Schulte added Paul Kovachev as a partner in its Transactions Practice Group in New York, strengthening the firm’s real estate finance capabilities.
Kovachev joins from Greenberg Traurig, where he practiced in the firm’s New York real estate group.
Earlier in his career, he worked at Debevoise & Plimpton and in Ernst & Young’s and PwC’s financial statement audit practices.
Kovachev brings a background spanning law, accounting, and fund finance, including experience as an auditor and fund CFO.
He advises institutional owners, developers, lenders, and investors on CMBS and other mortgage financings, joint ventures, REIT matters, workouts, and restructurings.
His practice spans multifamily, senior housing, industrial, hospitality, office, and retail properties.
Kovachev has closed more than $15 billion of transactions during his career.
His senior housing practice includes acquisitions, dispositions, and financings of individual communities and portfolios.
McDermott Will & Schulte said the addition strengthens the intersection of its real estate, private equity, healthcare, and tax practices.
The firm noted that Kovachev’s experience enables him to evaluate financial structures while coordinating with lawyers across multiple practices on complex transactions.
His background is also expected to support clients navigating refinancing and recapitalization transactions as higher financing costs and more selective lenders create additional structuring challenges.
Kovachev has been recognized in The Best Lawyers in America: Ones to Watch for New York Real Estate Law for multiple consecutive years.
KEY QUOTES:
“Paul came to the law after years as an auditor and a fund CFO, and it shows in how he pressure-tests a deal’s numbers and structure before a lender or investor does. Clients are refinancing, recapitalizing, and buying at a time when costlier financing and more selective lenders mean deals take more structuring to close. That rigor suits the way our real estate, private equity, and healthcare teams work together.”
Harris Siskind, Global Head of the Transactions Practice Group at McDermott Will & Schulte
“Good legal and business advice has to hold up in front of an investment or credit committee and an auditor, and that standard has shaped how I approach every deal. McDermott Will & Schulte brings real estate together with private equity, tax, and a leading healthcare practice, which is how the sponsors, lenders, and senior housing operators I work with do business. That’s the practice I want to build here, and I’m excited to get started.”
Paul K. Kovachev, Partner at McDermott Will & Schulte
