Ira represents real estate developers, apartment and hospitality property owners, home builders, contractors, their financial partners, and related entities.  He serves his clients in the areas of risk transfer, insurance placement, insurance coverage, construction and warranty risk management, and litigation management.  Ira brings to these practice areas twelve years of experience in real estate litigation, including construction defect defense, and seven years serving as general counsel for Capital Pacific Holdings, Inc., formerly known as J.M. Peters Company, Inc.  This work history, coupled with his training as a mediator, has enabled him to resolve for his clients over 400 construction defect and insurance coverage matters, including many high profile, media-intensive cases in California, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado and Texas.

Ira also assists his clients and their brokers in placing insurance coverage for high-end attached and detached residential, hotel, apartment, commercial, and office properties.  He regularly negotiates the terms and conditions of wrap-up insurance policies for all types of residential and commercial construction.  With an integrated approach to risk management, Ira ensures that insurance policies appropriately cover the risks faced by the insured, then drafts operational contracts which include indemnity and insurance provisions that transfer risk to the responsible parties.  In the event of a claim, he ensures that carriers and retained counsel resolve matters in the best interest of the insured through enforcement of insurance policies, contractual rights, and other applicable legal principles.  Ira has written and lectured on such topics as risk transfer, insurance coverage, mold claims, mechanic’s liens, home purchase contracts, new home warranty practices, sales disclosures, indemnity agreements, and right-to-repair statutes. Ira serves on the Board of Directors of the Building Industry Legal Defense Foundation of the Building Industry Association of Southern California.

Education

• J.D., Duke University School of Law

• B.A., Duke University