Jay’s practice focuses on corporate, real estate and general business transactions. He has represented developers, investors, landlords, tenants, borrowers and lenders in almost all aspects of real estate law, including joint ventures, partnerships, development, financing, construction and leasing, and other corporate law work including entity formation and structure (including corporations, limited liability companies, joint ventures, and partnerships), sales of businesses, business restructuring, mergers and acquisitions. Jay serves as general counsel to various businesses, and negotiates and drafts documents for a wide range of business matters. His practice includes representation in the business sectors of manufacturing, product distribution, hotels and hospitality, and real estate (including commercial, industrial and retail).
He has represented Bank of America, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Sakura Bank, International E-Z Up, Inc., Katell Properties, California Linear Devices, Inc., Formulabs, Marshall Industries, Builders Resources Corporation, Computer Power Systems, Inc., Sonnenblick Eichner Company, CIM Group, Citicorp, Imperial Credit Commercial Mortgage Investment Corp., and major law firms in office leasing transactions.
For many years, Jay has been recognized as a Super Lawyer in Southern California Super Lawyers, and has received the highest peer-reviewed rating awarded by Martindale Hubbell.
Jay earned his J.D., with honors, in 1963 from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, where he was Order of the Coif and an editor of the California Law Review. He received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, with honors, from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1959, where he was also a member of the Tau Beta Pi and Eta Kappa Nu engineering honor societies. Jay also served as a clerk on the California Supreme Court (1963-1964), working for both Justices Roger Traynor and Mathew Tobriner. Jay is admitted to practice law in California.
Prior to joining FSPM, Jay was a partner for more than 25 years in both the corporate and real estate practices at Dentons US LLP (formerly Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP). Prior to that, he served as Managing Partner of Mayer Brown’s Los Angeles office. Earlier in his career Jay practiced law for 12 years with the law firm Greenberg Glusker before leaving to form his own law firm of Shafran, Wasser & Childs (formerly Thomas, Shafran, Wasser & Childs). From 1984 to 1988, he was a partner in the firm of Shafran & Fragner, teaming up with Matthew Fragner, a founding partner of FSPM.