Jennifer S. Recine

• Secured dismissal with prejudice of a federal RICO suit brought against The Manhattan Club, a luxury timeshare property in midtown Manhattan, and affiliates.
• Representing Chelsea Hotel Owner, Ira Drukier, Richard Born, and Sean MacPherson in an ongoing § 1983 action against the City of New York for more than $100 million in damages arising from the City’s wrongful reclassification of the iconic Hotel Chelsea and revocation of it valid permit, six years into the building’s redevelopment.
• Successfully litigated across multiple jurisdictions and resolved a dispute over ownership of the IP associated with certain food and beverage outlets, including the valuable trademark and trade dress associated with Mother Wolf, a celebrated restaurant in Los Angeles.
• Represented the owners of Hotel Chelsea, in successfully ending two years of litigation and 15 days of trial with New York City’s Department of Housing Preservation Development prompted by a vocal minority of hostile tenants objecting to the redevelopment of the historic hotel, resulting in the reinstatement of the Hotel’s building permits after more than two years.
• Represented real estate developer Bruce Eichner’s Continuum Company in zoning issues surrounding the company’s high profile residential development of two 39-story apartment towers at a former spice factory in Brooklyn, NY and in defense of a class action claim concerning NYC timeshare the Manhattan Club.
• Represented Beverly Hills Unified School District in its NEPA action against the Federal Transit Administration challenging the proposed route for the extension of the purple line subway in Los Angeles, set to run under Beverly Hills High School.
• Represented New Yorkers for Tourism in filing a hybrid action pursuant to Articles 78 and 30 in New York State Supreme Court to challenge the City of New York and New York City Planning Commission’s zoning text amendment to require special permits for all new hotels citywide.
• Represented Maverick Real Estate Partners in 18 jointly administered bankruptcy proceedings to recover default interest on a portfolio of loans secured by Brooklyn multifamily properties.
• Represented a leading real estate developer in resolving pandemic-related real estate disputes concerning its marquee luxury building in New York City.
• Won dismissal of breach of contract and fiduciary duty claims against Workspace, a mixed-use cooperative corporation that owns two buildings in NYC brought by a minority shareholder, 106 Spring Street Owner, a portfolio company managed by 60 Guilders and funded by Carlyle Realty Partners and 60 Guilders.
• Obtained reversal of a taking of a parking lot from developer Steel Equities to satisfy the zoning requirements for Calpine’s newly constructed Long Island Power Plant on the grounds that it violated the Fifth Amendment by conferring a private benefit on Calpine.
• Defended a foreclosure action on behalf of distressed investors in Miami Savoy Hotel permitting them to purchase the debt for a substantial discount.
• Secured sole ownership for real estate investor Eric Hadar and the Eric Hadar Family Trust of what his adversaries called “invaluable” Manhattan real estate development sites and the “crown jewels” of the disputed partnership’s assets.
• Negotiated the successful resolution of disputes arising from construction defects and delays on residential, commercial, and public/private development projects.
• Successfully litigated and arbitrated complex commercial matters and sensitive tax disputes on behalf of numerous clients.
• Represented Fairfax Financial Holdings, Lehman Brothers Holdings, AmTrust Financial Services, Soroban Capital Partners and Energy Transfer.
• Handled high-profile Trust and Estate controversies for high net worth individuals and families, as well as trustees.
• Secured the reinstatement of trustees removed for purported misconduct.
• Secured the reinstatement of directors improperly ousted from the board of 1035 Fifth Avenue Corp.
• Won a successful Third Circuit appeal dismissing breach of fiduciary duty verdicts against certain officers and directors of the historic Lemington Home in Pittsburgh, PA.
• Prosecuted and defended malpractice claims against attorneys, accountants and other professionals including the recent successful defense of a high-profile suit by prominent female performer Rihanna against her former representatives.
• Successfully represented individuals and organizations in white collar criminal and regulatory inquiries by the U.S. Justice Department, Department of Labor, securities regulators, New York Attorney General, and other city and state regulators including New York State Assembly in the Moreland Commission investigation.
• Secured a reversal from the 11th Circuit of a federal district court’s dismissal of contract claims by 11 federal guest workers against their employer, Fancy Farms, for repayment of recruitment fees illegally charged to the workers in their home country, Honduras, by the farm’s recruiter.

Jennifer S. Recine is a first-chair trial lawyer with extensive experience handling complex real estate disputes; disputes concerning distressed assets, structured products and CMBS; civil RICO;  securities actions; regulatory disputes, professional malpractice; tax; and other high-stakes matters. Jennifer’s securities experience includes representing activist investors, class action defense, and defending against short-selling attacks on publicly traded companies on civil RICO, First Amendment, and other grounds.

Jennifer‘s bet-the-company cases often focus on  crisis management, or other existential threats, including sensitive tax disputes or government overreach where protection of clients‘ reputational interests are paramount.

Jennifer is recognized as a leading real estate litigator by Chambers USA, with clients noting that she is “a force to be reckoned with” and “a very commercial lawyer.” In the real estate sector, Jennifer advises clients on commercial real estate development, investment, debt, workouts, disposition, land use, environmental concerns, infrastructure, construction, and hospitality-related intellectual property.

Jennifer is recognized as one of the nation’s top litigators by publications including Crain’s New York (Notable Leaders in Real Estate, Notable Women in Law), Law360 (Real Estate MVP), Lawdragon (500 Leading Litigators in America), Chambers USA, The Legal 500, Benchmark Litigation (Top 250 Women in Litigation), National Law Journal (Litigation Trailblazer; Real Estate Trailblazer), Diversity Journal (Woman to Watch), and Bisnow (Female Power Players).