Professional Development & Careers - Robert Traurig-Greenberg Traurig LL.M. in Real Property Development

Hands-On Learning Opportunities

• Interdisciplinary Work with University of Miami Graduate Schools

  As part of the program’s multi-faceted approach to education in real estate development, students in the Robert Traurig-Greenberg Traurig LL.M. in Real Property Development Program have opportunities to do interdisciplinary work with University of Miami’s renowned graduate schools including the School of Architecture and the Miami Business School.

  Real Estate Development Workshop with University of Miami's School of Architecture

  Through a unique collaboration with the School of Architecture, LL.M. students gain exposure to the perspectives of approaching a real estate development project from the eyes of the architect and the business side.

  In the spring, students who study the Real Estate Development Workshop are paired up with students from the Masters of Real Estate Development + Urbanism (MRED+U) program out of the School of Architecture and with students from the Business School. They are assigned to teams who work collectively on often genuine real estate projects or case studies.

  The Architecture students work as designers, and the MRED and RPD students work as the developers, each contributing within their areas of expertise. The joint project is led by Professor Jack Winston from the RPD side and Dr. Charles Bohl from the MRED side. Additionally, several Architecture Professors are involved supervising the studios overseeing these projects. The collaboration ends with each team making presentations to a panel of judges.

• Internship Opportunity

  The Internship is a requirement for full-time RPD students. It takes place in a law firm or the in-house  department at a real estate development company or municipality.  It entails 60 hours  of hands-on participation in real estate transactions under the supervision of a senior lawyer and gives unparalleled exposure to real estate practice. Past internships have taken place at:

  • Ackerman, LLP
  • Bilzin Sumberg
  • City of Miami
  • City of Coral Gables
  • Dezer Development
  • GreenbergTraurig, LLP
  • Holland and Knight LLP
  • Lennar Corporation
  • Related Group
  • Stearns Weaver Miller Weissler Alhadeff & Sitterson, P.A.
  • Weiss Serota Helfman Cole & Bierman, P.A.

• The Greenberg Traurig Fellowship Program

  Each spring students are able to apply for an Internship at GreenbergTraurig, LLP. Selected students who successfully complete the internship have priority consideration for the Greenberg Traurig Fellowship Program.

  This is a full-time, one-year training/work program at the entry level with the goal of providing work experience and specific training in the real estate practice area. During the fellowship, the fellow is a full time temporary employee of Greenberg Traurig, has specific educational/training requirements and a reduced billable hour requirement.

  While not a guarantee of offer of employment with GT, at the conclusion of the program and if successful, the fellow may be considered for regular fulltime employment with GT as an associate, in the Firm’s sole and exclusive discretion.

• Site Visits

  

  Students gain first-hand knowledge from the various perspectives of participants, including experts in zoning or environmental issues, architects, developers, lenders or tenants. (Pictured: Real Property Development LL.M. studuents visit Downtown development site Miami World Center.) As a part of the Introduction to Real Estate Development and the Real Estate Project Development Workshop courses, students gather at a construction site or developer's office to hear presentations by real estate professionals who have been involved in significant residential or commercial real estate projects.

  The story of the project is told from the various perspectives of participants, including experts in zoning or environmental issues, architects, developers, lenders or tenants. The students tour the site of the project, and the entire experience is incorporated into the ongoing work of the relevant course offering. Our Real Property Development LLM students get to participate in a number of site visits throughout the year, helping them immerse themselves in the real estate law industry in Miami. See images from site visit to Brickell City Center in November 2016.

• Developer in Residence Program (DIR)

  Unique to the Miami Law RPD LL.M. is the Developer in Residence Program (DIR) which includes active involvement of one or more real estate developers who are able to complement the theoretical law, learned in the program with "real world" application to legal concepts.

  Developers in Residence actively participate with the students in and outside the classroom. In the classroom, they work with the faculty to present the client’s point of view, and occasionally assist the professors with guest lectures in their areas of expertise.

  Outside the classroom, they serve as a sounding board to the students, offering guidance as they work through “mock” and real-life development projects that are part of the course work. Because of their expertise, they are often asked to serve as judges in the various competitions and presentations that take place in the RPD Program and in the real estate programs from the University of Miami Schools of Architecture and Business.

  They also serve as informal mentors to the students. Currently, Howard Shapiro and Antonio Prado serve as Developers in Residence.

Networking & Professional Development

Networking Opportunities

Speed Networking

There are multiple opportunities to network with industry leaders and professionals in the Real Property Development LL.M. In addition to the Real Estate Impact Conference, students have the opportunity to participate in an invitation-only speed networking event with women real estate leaders.

Roundtables

Students from the RPD Program, the MRED Program, and the Master’s in Real Estate from Miami Business School also gather in round table settings and discuss various topics of interest: Technology in Real Estate, Entrepreneurship, Land Use & Zoning, Marketing, Glass Ceiling/Life Balance Issues, and many others.

Commercial Real Estate Women

Each fall the Miami chapter of CREW (Commercial Real Estate Women) hosts a UCREW event, also for students from all three programs, which brings together real estate industry professionals and students for conversation and networking.

Conferences

Real Estate Impact Conference

Each year RPD students have the opportunity to participate in the annual Real Estate Impact Conference hosted by the University of Miami. The annual conference is an invitation-only gathering of the most prominent national and international real estate industry leaders talking about cutting-edge issues in commercial and residential real estate. This conference is organized by the University of Miami School of Architecture and the Miami Herbert Business School and brings together more than 500 industry leaders at the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Miami. 

Swire Scholars - RPD students can apply to become a Swire Scholar for the Real Estate Impact Conference. Swire Scholars receive complimentary registration to attend the conference, and participate in a private luncheon with real estate advisory board members from the Architecture, Business and Law schools. Being a Swire Scholar offers exclusive networking opportunities for students interested in the real estate industry.

Boyer Institute on Condo and Cluster Development

The Ralph E. Boyer Institute on Condominium and Cluster Development, established in 1976 by the late UM Law Professor Ralph Boyer, is the premier conference in Florida for attorneys practicing condominium and community association law. Held annually, the two-day conference is designed to update practitioners on legislative and regulatory changes affecting condominium and planned development law.

The Institute brings together over 300 attorneys to hear experts speak on substantive areas such as powers and duties of associations,  drafting and planning issues in common elements and unit boundaries, and  condominium act exemptions and expansions; and to interact with representatives from the Bureaus of Compliance and Standards and Registration at the Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshare, and Mobile Homes.

RPD LL.M. students attend the conference, participate in the substantive sessions and network with practitioners and graduates of the RPD LL.M. Program.

• About Ralph E. Boyer

  Ralph E. Boyer was a visionary leader in the real estate field. A Navy veteran of World War II, Boyer was an honors graduate of Dickinson College. He received his LL.B. from Ohio State University and his LL.M. and S.J.D. from the University of Michigan. After teaching at the University of Michigan and Franklin University School of Law, Boyer joined the University of Miami School  of Law faculty in 1951 and served for over three decades until his retirement in 1985, teaching and writing in areas of property such as real property, title, and future interests. A prolific scholar, Professor Boyer authored Florida Real Estate Transactions, the seminal treatise on Florida real estate law and the “go to” resource for real estate practitioners seeking clear and nontechnical explanations of real estate principles.

  In 1976, noticing how condominiums and similar property interests were becoming a growing part of the housing market, and how legislation and judicial and administrative decisions at the state and federal levels kept condominium laws in a state of constant change, Professor Boyer launched the First Institute on Condominium and Cluster Housing. The Institute was designed to provide a valuable contribution to continuing legal education by reviewing the present state of the law, and identifying the issues facing the industry, government, and the consumer. Eventually renamed after him, more than 40 years later the Boyer Institute on Condominium and Cluster Development continues to serve its original purpose of updating the practitioner on the continuing changes affecting condominium law and development.

Lecture Series

Visiting Developer Lecture Series

Visiting lecturers give students the opportunity to ask questions and apply the knowledge they are acquiring in the classrooms to a real life situation. During fall or spring semesters, Miami Law hosts the visit of one or more developers who talk to students in detail about a specific project and the design, permitting, financing, construction, and myriad legal and other issues involved with getting a development project off the ground.

Speakers not only include experienced real estate developers but also those newer to the field. For example in spring 2018, a panel discussion with four boutique, start-up developers discussed what it takes to start a project, get it out of the ground, and avoid project pitfalls along the way. The panelists included: Nick Hammon of the Urban Atlantic Group, Marc Schwarberg of Maven Real Estate, Ken Barrington of Barrington Trust, and Jose Vizcarrondo of CADE Capital Partners. It was part of the Spring course “Problem Solving in Real Estate Development.” 

Visiting Practitioner Lecture Series

In addition to the Developer Lecture Series, the RPD program hosts the visit of practitioners to talk to students about various topics of importance in real estate development from careers in real estate law to what it takes to succeed and accomplish not only professional success but personal satisfaction in the work. Lectures have included:

• Experienced construction litigation attorneys Kevin Dorse, J.D. '87 (from LA, managing partner of Theodora Oringher PC, and an expert in public construction/large infrastructure projects) and Joy Lundeen, J.D. '87 (head of the Construction Law Practice Group at Stearns Weaver, and an expert in private construction/large vertical projects).
• Expert real estate attorneys Fred Klein, J.D. '79, (from D.C., managing partner of the real estate department of DLA Piper DC office), and Bryant Richardson J.D. '02 (Director and Counsel at Westbrook Partners Real Estate Investments, a private real estate equity firm).