Irv Hepner has over 40 years of experience in corporate and real estate work, and is the former general counsel of an NYSE listed company. He provides outside general counsel services, as well as transactional representation in project finance and project development, particularly in the industrial and energy sectors.

Irv started his legal career in the New York office of Debevoise, Plimpton, Lyons & Gates (now Debevoise & Plimpton LLP) and worked at Willkie Farr & Gallagher before joining (and then becoming a partner at) the New York office of Mayer, Brown & Platt (now Mayer Brown LLP).

After ten years at Mayer Brown, Irv joined Loeb & Loeb LLP’s New York office as a partner, where he remained until he was recruited to move to Los Angeles to be the Senior Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Westfield Corporation, Inc., which was the manager of Westfield America, Inc. (NYSE: WEA), of which Irv was the Corporate Secretary. During Westfield’s privatization in 2001, Irv returned to private practice as Counsel in the Los Angeles office of Kaye Scholer LLP (now Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP), first in its real estate department and then in its corporate department.

During his 14 years at Kaye Scholer, Irv and Amanda became colleagues and worked together frequently in project finance matters (particularly in the renewable energy sector) and real estate transactions. Irv and Amanda moved their practices together to Morrison & Foerster LLP in 2015, where Irv joined as Counsel in the project finance department.

Irv began his career as a corporate and real estate lawyer, working on a wide variety of development, leasing, equity investment, and financing transactions, including corporate finance and real estate securities matters. As General Counsel of Westfield, Irv managed all of the legal affairs of a publicly traded national shopping center developer, including real estate development and financing, acquisitions and dispositions, public reporting and regulatory matters, litigation, and employment matters. In later private practice, Irv brought his real estate and corporate skills to bear as a project finance specialist, where his projects included wind and solar generating facilities, electrical transmission lines, and other industrial facilities. From Hepner & Myers LLP, Irv now provides outside general counsel services.

Irv earned a B.A in Architecture from Yale University in 1973, and a J.D., magna cum laude, from Benjamin Cardozo School of Law in 1979, where he was a member of the Cardozo Law Review. Irv has served on the boards of directors of a number of not-for-profit organizations, including Public Counsel, the largest pro bono law firm in the nation.