Kirkland & Ellis Adds Real Estate Partner Seth Niedermayer After Decade at HSF Kramer

Kirkland & Ellis Adds Real Estate Partner Seth Niedermayer After Decade at HSF Kramer

Real estate attorney Seth Niedermayer has left HSF Kramer to join Kirkland & Ellis as a partner in the firm’s real estate group, the Chicago-based law firm confirmed this week. The move was announced via a LinkedIn post Monday evening and verified by a firm spokesperson.

At Kirkland & Ellis, Niedermayer is expected to advise private equity and investor clients as well as developers and operators on real estate transactions, with an emphasis on joint ventures and financing work. The firm, which has a broad corporate and private equity practice, has been building out its New York presence at 900 Third Avenue alongside its expanding real estate practice.

Niedermayer spent more than ten years at HSF Kramer, joining the firm in 2015 when it operated as Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel. He arrived as an associate with limited real estate experience, but the practice grew as private capital became an increasingly dominant force in property markets. He was elevated to partner in 2022.

His transaction record includes representing Mitsui Fudosan America in its joint venture at 50 Hudson Yards and working on the 2022 acquisition of the Venetian resort on the Las Vegas Strip by VICI Properties and Apollo Global Management. VICI, an S&P 500 experiential REIT whose portfolio includes Caesars Palace Las Vegas, the MGM Grand and the Venetian, trades at $24.81, down 1% on the day, with a market capitalization of roughly $28.24 billion.

“Kirkland has an unrivaled platform to serve clients on their most sophisticated and important matters,” Niedermayer said in a statement, adding that he looks forward to building on the firm’s momentum in real estate.

At HSF Kramer, Jay Neveloff, chair of U.S. real estate, thanked Niedermayer for his contributions to the firm and its clients over the past decade.

Niedermayer began his legal career as a summer associate at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett before joining full time after graduating from Columbia Law School.

Source: original release

What to watch

• Further lateral hires into Kirkland & Ellis’s growing real estate group and its New York practice at 900 Third Avenue.
• Whether Niedermayer brings private equity and developer client relationships to his new platform.
• Future joint venture and financing deal announcements involving VICI Properties and other major real estate investors.