About Rob Pivnick
Rob began his career at Winstead, an AmLaw 200 firm, where he represented developers and investors in all stages of commercial, retail, mixed-use and multifamily development, including entity formation, capital sourcing, purchase, construction and disposition.
He’s represented both landlords and tenants as well as both regional and national lenders along with equity providers in senior and junior liens, mezzanine, preferred equity, loan sales, cash management arrangements, ground lease mortgages, interest rate caps and defeasance.
Rob then spent nine years in-house as a Director of Legal Service and Assistant General Counsel at Goldman, Sachs & Co., where he provided coverage and oversight for various Goldman Sachs affiliates, including:
GS Realty Management, an international full-service investment management and real estate support services company which oversees acquisition, development, management, leasing and disposition.
GS Mortgage Company, a full-service commercial mortgage lender that offers financing for all property types.
Specialty Lending, which provides middle-market business financing for buyouts, recapitalizations, expansions, restructurings and exits.
Secondary Mortgage Trading Desk, which engages in market-making activities in commercial mortgage loan positions.
While at Goldman Sachs, Rob managed the negotiation and closing of over 600 transactions totaling over $11 billion, and independently sourced $2.5 million of untapped income from the sale of various servicing rights.
Rob then spent five years as General Counsel at Leon Capital Group, a fast-moving and dynamic real estate and private equity investment company with, at its zenith, more than $3 billion of diversified assets under management. The company’s investment disciplines included: (1) Retail net lease and shopping center acquisition, development and disposition; (2) Multifamily acquisition, development and disposition; (3) Industrial and self-storage acquisition, development and disposition; and (4) Private equity including growth capital, buyouts and minority interest positions.
His responsibilities at Leon Capital Group included overseeing the legal and operational management of the company’s growth from the early stages—where there was little infrastructure—to nearly 100 employees. He also served, in a Chief Operating Officer’s absence, for nearly two years as acting COO, responsible for human resources, marketing and public relations. He successfully guided the company through major reductions in force during market corrections.
All of this experience gives Rob a tremendous depth and breadth of knowledge to bring to clients. He understands both sides of complex transactions and can offer insight and perspective not just as a lawyer, but also as a businessperson.
Over his career, he has served on the boards of both for- and non-profit organizations. He is also a writer, speaker, mentor and financial literacy advocate. Rob is the author of Young Adults Guide to Saving and Investing.
Education/Bar Admissions/Honors
Southern Methodist University, J.D., cum laude, 2000
Southern Methodist University, M.B.A., cum laude, 2000
Emory University, B.A., 1996
State Bar of Texas, licensed 2000
Mediation Certificate, 2013
Corporate Counsel Award Finalist, D CEO magazine, 2017