Akerman LLP, a top 100 U.S. law firm serving clients across the Americas, is continuing its strategic client commitment in Los Angeles with the addition of experienced transactional partner Irán Hopkins, as well as real estate associates Daphna Davidovits and Claudia Fu, with office headcount tripling to 37 lawyers and business professionals since 2015. Hopkins, Davidovits and Fu join Akerman’s Real Estate Practice Group and Cannabis Practice, the first legal team created by a national law firm to serve the legal cannabis sector.
“Clients value Irán for her ability to advance and protect their interests by structuring and negotiating often complex transactions in efficient, creative ways,” said Eric Rapkin, chair of Akerman’s Real Estate Practice Group. “She is a trusted advisor and her arrival enhances our ability to serve clients across a wide range of asset classes.”
“Irán is a talented transactional lawyer respected in the community for her forward-thinking work and exceptional client service across industry sectors, including sports and entertainment,” said Sue Zabloudil, Los Angeles office managing partner. “We are proud our Los Angeles office continues to attract outstanding lawyers and business professionals such as Irán, Claudia and Daphna, with unmatched dedication to the success of our clients and the firm.”
“Irán enhances the breadth and depth of Akerman’s service offerings in an industry where the regulatory framework is at a very nascent phase,” said Jonathan Robbins, chair of the Cannabis Practice. “Her experience in California and internationally will add tremendous value to clients involved in the full spectrum of market activities that make the cannabis sector so successful.”
“We are delighted to join the Akerman team and very much look forward to collaborating with our new colleagues to expand our reach and better serve clients from a national platform,” Hopkins said.
The multilingual team broadens Akerman’s core transactional capabilities, bringing extensive experience in a variety of domestic and international real estate, corporate and commercial transactions, along with clients including family offices, private equity funds, entrepreneurs, consultants, fashion designers and joint ventures active across industries ranging from hospitality and commercial real estate, technology start-ups, telehealth, apparel, commercial agriculture and professional soccer.
As a highly experienced regulatory advisor in the evolving California cannabis industry and the cannabis industry group leader at her prior firm, Hopkins also brings considerable background representing key stakeholders in all aspects of state and local licensing, the establishment of compliant operations across the supply chain, and getting products to market.
With Hopkins, Akerman’s Los Angeles office has added five partners since December into the firm’s innovative CalEdison DTLA office space. Notable arrivals include real estate financing partner William Bernfeld, employment partners Jeffrey Horton Thomas and Michelle Lee Flores. Partners Kanika Corley in the Litigation Practice Group and Caroline Mankey in the Intellectual Property Practice Group also joined the Los Angeles office.
As a member of Akerman’s Real Estate Practice Group, Hopkins also joins one of the nation’s premier legal teams dedicated to client needs across all facets of the real estate sector. In addition to Hopkins, Davidovits, Fu and Bernfeld in Los Angeles, Akerman recently welcomed Joni Armstrong Coffey as partner in Miami from the Broward County Attorney’s Office, partners Marilyn Mullen Healy and Jim Porter in Tampa, Fla., and a leading team of land use and zoning partners in Chicago led by veteran lawyer John “Jack” George. Other recent additions to the firm include veteran M&A partner Ted Rosen and Corporate Finance and Lending Practice Co-Chair Robert Stein in New York and Austin, Texas, Office Managing Partner Todd Reed, whose combined financial services and development experience bolsters Akerman’s transactional strengths.
About Akerman
Akerman LLP is a top 100 U.S. law firm recognized by Financial Times as among the most forward thinking firms in the industry. Its more than 700 lawyers and business professionals collaborate with the world’s most successful enterprises and entrepreneurs to navigate change, seize opportunities, and overcome barriers to innovation and growth. Akerman is known for its results in middle market M&A and complex disputes, and for helping clients achieve their most important business objectives in the financial services, real estate, and other dynamic sectors across the United States and Latin America.
Akerman’s Real Estate Practice Group offers comprehensive and fully integrated project counsel services to clients across the United States and Latin America. With substantial industry experience and local market insights, the firm represents clients in complex real estate transactions and financings, development and redevelopment projects, public-private initiatives and litigation. Recognized as a national tier one law firm for real estate law by U.S. News - Best Lawyers, the group advises investors, developers, builders, lenders, retailers, owners and corporate end users, often in high profile matters.
Akerman’s Cannabis Practice is a multidisciplinary team intimately familiar with the complex legal and business issues impacting clients operating in the sector. The group possesses the depth of experience and national reach necessary to help clients meet their business objectives, from monitoring notable industry trends and legislative developments to providing effective counsel on the maze of often conflicting federal, state and local laws and regulations governing cannabis.