LOS ANGELES, April 24, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP announced that Partner and Chair of the Real Estate Department Joan Velazquez has been recognized by the Los Angeles Business Journal as one of the "Top 100 Lawyers of Los Angeles for 2024." The award honors attorneys who "have demonstrated exceptional legal skill and achievements across the full spectrum of responsibility, exemplary leadership and contribution to the Los Angeles community at large," states the publisher.

"Velazquez is a creative problem solver and proven deal maker who never loses sight of her clients' business goals. She mitigates her client's legal risks while helping them realize the business opportunity in every deal," states the publisher. "She regularly structures, documents, and closes more than one billion dollars of financing transactions in any given year."

Named a Commercial Real Estate "Visionary" by the Los Angeles Times in 2023 and an honoree of the 2023 Los Angeles Business Journal's "Women of Influence: Attorneys" list, Velazquez represents real estate owners, developers, investors, lenders, family offices, contractors and asset managers in connection with a wide range of projects, including the acquisition, financing, development, leasing, management and sale of office buildings, industrial parks, mixed use projects, and hotel/resort projects.

Velazquez is experienced in the formation of partnerships, joint ventures, limited liability companies and arranging complex capital structures, including highly leveraged mezzanine financing, subordinated lending arrangements and other creative solutions. She guides clients with distressed properties to successfully restructure existing debt. Velazquez's tax background gives her a competitive advantage when structuring deals so she can increase the net return to her clients.

Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP is a full-service firm that provides a broad range of business-related legal services including corporate law; litigation; intellectual property & technology law; real estate transactions and finance; construction & environmental law; tax planning and controversies; employment law; health care law; bankruptcy, receivership and reorganization; and estate planning. For more information, visit

SOURCE Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP