315 Montgomery Street
9th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94104

Tel: 415.829.4272
Fax: 415.449.3622
Email: Kawakami@KBLLawyers.com

Paul Kawakami’s practice covers a wide range of real estate transactional and business matters. He specializes in the acquisition, development, sale and exchange of commercial and multi-family real estate; retail, office and industrial leasing; real estate financing and secured transactions, including acquisition, construction, mezzanine and permanent loans; loan modifications, workouts and restructurings; and the formation of joint ventures and LLCs.

Mr. Kawakami represents developers, investors, institutional lenders, end-users, and educational institutions with respect to transactions involving shopping centers, restaurants, urban campuses, mixed-use complexes, office buildings, big box retail stores, hotels, build-to-suit facilities, apartment buildings, office parks, professional centers and industrial sites.

Mr. Kawakami’s representative transactions include: representing developers, financial institutions, insurance companies, and other owners of office and industrial buildings and shopping centers located throughout California; assisting a private university and a film studio with all of their respective real estate needs, including land acquisition and disposition, ancillary office space leases, and other issues relating to their urban campuses and satellite locations; representing national big box retail chains in the acquisition, development, sale, and exchange of sites throughout the Western United States; representing both owners and tenants in the drafting and negotiation of ground leases and space lease for office, retail, and industrial uses; represent both lenders and borrowers with respect to new financing transactions and the workout and restructuring of existing debt; and assisting a client acquire, finance, operate and dispose of hotels throughout the United States.

Affiliations, Activities and Accomplishments

Mr. Kawakami is admitted to practice in California. He is a member of the State Bar of California, the International Council of Shopping Centers, and the Urban Land Institute. He is currently a member of the Executive Committee of the Real Property Law Section of the State Bar of California, and is the Editor of the Section’s E-Bulletin, which is a summary of notable cases, changes in the law, and other recent developments of interest that is emailed monthly to the approximately 6,000 members of the Section.  He is also a member of the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area, and is the co-chair of the Real Estate Committee of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association.

Presentations and Publications

Mr. Kawakami frequently publishes articles and gives lectures on real estate and diversity matters.

Recent presentations include: “Legal Issues And Opportunities In Acquiring Distressed Assets”, “Hot Tips and New Issues on Loan Workouts,” moderating a panel of leading industry experts for an Urban Land Institute program titled “Secrets of the Dealmakers,” and moderating a panel of lawyers and law school professionals at the Diversity Symposium presented by Sedgwick LLP in 2011.

Admissions

California; U.S. District Court (N.D. Cal.)

Education

J.D. (1983) University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall)
B.A. (1980) University of California at Davis, with honors