Mechanic's Skill Is Wrenching Lease Deals --- Fried Frank Lawyer's Tools Include Publicist, Parties And Lengthy Documents
It isn't unusual for a takeover lawyer to get attention for his role in a corporate drama. But a leasing lawyer?</br></br>Meet Jonathan Mechanic, the 47-year-old, bushy-moustached head of real estate for Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson in Manhattan. He employs a publicist, socializes relentlessly, and instills drama into the dusty world of landlord and tenant law by turning every negotiation into a fight. "I want a tough lease. I want {to win} every right that can go the client's way," he says.</br></br>Though rivals deplore his tactics, the $500-an-hour lawyer has collected clients such as Conde Nast Publications, a unit of Advance Publications Inc., and Jerry Speyer, plus 1998 revenue of $10 million at his 30-lawyer group. And Fried Frank aims to represent not one but two suitors, including Brookfield Financial Properties Inc., in the forthcoming contest for the country's biggest lease: 10 million square feet of offices at New York's World Trade Center.</br></br>In lease negotiations, lawyers routinely complain that Mr. Mechanic wastes time and money with his 50-page documents, while challenging every detail in their much shorter ones. Then, "at some point, he will always pound on the table about something that surprises me because it seems so unexceptional," says attorney Philip Rosen of Weil Gotshal & Manges, who has sat across the table from Mr. Mechanic several times. Mr. Mechanic is nevertheless "a very good lawyer," he adds.</br></br>And his methods win clients. Real-estate investor Andrew Davidoff of Emmes Group of Cos. first encountered Mr. Mechanic 12 years ago representing a company that wanted to lease space in a building Mr. Davidoff then owned, Harborside Financial Center in Jersey City, N.J. Last year, buying out a partner in a difficult $50 million negotiation, he made sure Mr. Mechanic was working for him. "He knows when to go on a rampage to get a deal closed," Mr. Davidoff says.