Ms. Bernstein is a Partner at the firm and is licensed in California. Ms. Bernstein has worked with SSL and its partners in various capacities almost since its founding, both as a firm client and attorney. She is a real estate generalist but focuses her practice largely on leasing and purchase and sale transactions, property management, construction contracts and lease workouts, including some dispute resolution. Ms. Bernstein previously worked in-house and at several large, national law firms before joining SSL in 2007 and again in 2019. Ms. Bernstein serves as primary outside counsel, managing all lease and property management legal work for several retail, medical and biotech clients on the tenant side, and for several major office and medical office building REITs on the landlord side. Ms. Bernstein’s practice includes all types of commercial leasing (office, industrial and retail) across many industries; development, acquisition, and disposition of real property assets; data center development; construction and architecture agreements; and real estate-based financing. She serves on the California State Bar commercial leasing committee and has organized or served as a presenter on a variety of real property related topics. Ms. Bernstein’s pro bono and community work includes representation of indigent residential tenants, representation of immigrants applying for asylum or defending against deportation, work with her LGBTQI and LatinX communities, and work with an animal rescue organization.
Education:
- Undergraduate School: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM.
- Law School: University of California at Berkeley Law School, Berkeley, CA.
Practice Areas:
- Commercial real estate including:
- Commercial lease review and negotiations.
- Commercial lease related transactions and documentation, including all ancillary agreements such as ground leases, amendments, nondisclosure agreements, licenses, subordination, work letters and tenant improvement contracts, landlord waivers and non-disturbance agreements, estoppels, including for office, industrial and retail properties.
- Purchase and sales transactions.
- COVID-19 related dispute resolution.
- Construction and design contracts.
- Negotiation and strategic advice regarding property management, tenant audits, rent adjustments and lease disputes.
- Experience in following industries:
- High tech/ISP/Telecom
- Data center and colocation
- Medical
- Retail/restaurant
- Industrial/manufacturing
- Office across all industries
- Transportation