Joel M. Hurwitz

Partner

Joel M. Hurwitz is the co-chairman of the Real Estate Department and chairman of the  Commercial and Real Estate Finance Transactions Department of the law firm of Arnstein & Lehr LLP.  His practice focuses on the representation of financial institutions, corporations, real estate owners and developers in complex commercial and real estate transactions including asset-based lending, credit enhancements with letters of credit, mortgage lending and workouts, and individuals concerning business and financial matters, estate planning and estate administration. He represents clients in matters throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Mr. Hurwitz has litigated and won leading cases concerning interpretation of contracts and creditors’ rights in the Illinois trial and appellate courts and in the Illinois Supreme Court. Mr. Hurwitz served as an attorney in the bankruptcy and real estate sections of the law division of The First National Bank of Chicago, now JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.

Professional and Community Activities and Achievements

Mr. Hurwitz is an active member in numerous professional and civic organizations. He is a member of the Illinois State Bar Association, including the sections on Business Law, Real Property and Probate and Trusts and the American Bar Association including the sections on Real Property, Trust & Estate Law and Business Law. He is a certified arbitrator and panel chair for the Circuit Court of Cook County, Mandatory Arbitration Program. Mr. Hurwitz has been designated a “Super Lawyer” by Super Lawyers magazine, 2005-2011.  He is rated by Martindale-Hubbell® AV® Preeminent™, 5.0 out of 5.  AV® Preeminent ™ and BV® Distinguished™ are certification marks of Reed Elsevier Properties Inc., used in accordance with the Martindale-Hubbell certification procedures, standards and policies. The AV® Preeminent ™ rating is Martindale-Hubbell’s highest rating.

He taught real estate law part-time at Chicago Kent College of Law. He was a regional vice-chairman of the Anti-Defamation League and is a former co-chair of its Greater Chicago and Wisconsin Civil Rights and Government Affairs Committees. He served on the Midwest Regional Board of the Anti–Defamation League and was an ADL Associate National Commissioner. He also served on the board of Jewish Vocational Services. He was the 2001 recipient of the ADL Community Service Award. Mr. Hurwitz served both as a board member and President of the North Shore District 113 School Board (Deerfield and Highland Park, IL high schools) and is a member of Senator Mark Kirk’s Finance Committee. He was also a member of the original Museum and Education Committee of the Holocaust Memorial Foundation of Illinois.

Publications and Lectures

Mr. Hurwitz is the author of “Downsizing and Rent Abatement – The Lender and the Landlord Get Squeezed” published in the Commercial Solutions Newsletter. He is the author of the chapter titled “Commercial Real Estate Transactions – The Mortgage Lender’s Perspective” published by the Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education in its 2011 Commercial Real Estate Practice Treatise and Comments to FASB Proposed Accounting Standards Update – Leases Topic 840 posted on the FASB web site.

He is the co-author of the chapter and a supplement thereto titled “Protecting the Lender in Commercial Real Estate Transactions” published by the Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education in its 2004 Commercial Real Estate Practice Treatise. Mr. Hurwitz is also the author of “Loans Secured by Interests in Exchange Funds and Investment Partnerships,” published in the Risk Management Association’s course materials entitled “Advanced Lending to Wealthy Individuals.” He has made presentations to the Community Bankers Association of Illinois Commercial Real Estate Lending seminar and to the Association of Corporate Counsel concerning commercial real estate leasing.

Education

University of Chicago Law School (J.D.)
University of Chicago Booth Graduate School of Business (MBA in Corporate Finance)
University of Pittsburgh (B.A., Economics and Political Science), Elected to Phi Beta Kappa and Omicron Delta Kappa
University of Oslo (Norway) (Economics)

Bar Admissions

U.S. Supreme Court
Illinois Supreme Court
U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois (including Federal Trial Bar)
State of Illinois