Steven Alden, now a retired partner, has been considered among New York’s leading real estate lawyers. His practice covered all aspects of the real estate business, including purchases and sales, development and leasing, and lending and borrowing as well as an array of complex and innovative structures and techniques involving joint ventures, private equity and partnership arrangements and advisory agreements. His real estate finance work included participating and contingent interest mortgages, sale leasebacks, leasehold mortgages, mezzanine investments, as well as restructuring existing loans, workouts, bankruptcies and foreclosures. Until 2011, Mr. Alden was Chair of the firm’s Real Estate Group.
Ranked in Chambers USA (2010) as a leading lawyer who “can always be counted on for his sage advice and a calm, confident approach to negotiations,” Mr. Alden has been praised by clients for his “relaxed but deeply intelligent style.” He has also been recognized by numerous other surveys and publications, including PLC Which Lawyer? (2009) and The Legal 500 (2009), where he was described as a “lawyer’s lawyer” who inspires “unique confidence.”
Mr. Alden has lectured frequently on real estate and related topics at a variety of organizations, including Columbia University, Practising Law Institute, Bank Lending Institute, the American Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association, the New York County Lawyers Association, the American College of Mortgage Attorneys, and the American College of Real Estate Lawyers. He has also authored numerous articles on real estate and real estate financing and is a frequent contributor to real estate publications and legal periodicals.
Mr. Alden is a member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers, The American College of Mortgage Attorneys, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York’s Committee on Real Property Law, the American Land Title Association, the New York Land Title Association, the American Bar Association’s Section on Real Property, Probate and Trust Law (Real Estate Financing Committee) and the New York State Bar Association’s Real Property Law Section (Executive Committee 1990-1995, 2002-present, Chair of Section 2011-2012). He also serves on the Boards of Directors of the Boy Scouts of America, Greater New York Councils, Symphony Space and Creative Time, and was the Chairman of the Board of Symphony Space from 2002-2013.
Mr. Alden joined Debevoise as an associate in 1971 and became a partner in 1979. He received his A.B.magna cum laude from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1967, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and his J.D. from University of California at Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law in 1970, where he was a member of the Order of the Coif and the California Law Review.