Richard J Sobelsohn

Richard J. Sobelsohn has practiced law for more than 25  years as a real estate attorney with a sub-specialty in sustainable building law.  

When he began his legal career, he worked as a solo practitioner while at the same time running an adult business school specializing in real estate, insurance and accounting.  Richard then went in-house as general counsel to a real estate development firm and after working about four years in-house, Richard worked at the law firms Stroock, Stroock & Lavan, Kaye Scholer (now Arnold & Porter), and Moses & Singer, where he advised developers, corporations, financial institutions and individuals concerning a variety of real estate transactions including condominium offerings, leasing, sustainable development, acquisitions, dispositions, financing, and ground-up construction.  Richard left Moses & Singer to create the Real Estate module for Lexis’s new product called Lexis Practice Advisor and after working at Lexis, Richard returned to practice to work in-house again, this time at Cohen Brothers Realty Corporation, where he is Senior Vice President, Legal.

Richard is Professor of Practice at Brooklyn Law School and also an adjunct professor of law at Brooklyn Law School, Benjamin N. Carodozo Law School, Columbia Law School, and Fordham University School of Law, where he teaches Real Estate Transactions, Sustainable Building Law, Commercial Leasing and Condominiums and Cooperatives.  Richard is a Green Globes Professional, LEED Accredited Professional, a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, and a Fellow of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers.

Richard speaks and writes extensively on Sustainable Building Law, ethics and diversity, and is a member of both the National Legal Working Group for the U.S. Green Building Council and the Strategic Advisory Committee of the Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council.  Richard is the author of the “Green Lease Provisions” chapter in the two-volume treatise “Negotiating and Drafting Office Leases” and "The Ultimate Green Playbood for Condos and Coops".