Kartik is a trial lawyer for the real estate industry. Kartik’s meticulous preparation, creativity and ability to connect with his audience have produced a track record of courtroom success and earned him recognition from the industry’s leading publications, such as Chambers USA and Benchmark Litigation.
Kartik is a fearless competitor who loves the courtroom and tries cases to win. His clients span the institutional and entrepreneurial spectrum of the real estate industry, and his trial practice covers nearly any commercial dispute that may arise during the full life cycle of their ventures — from entitlements and development rights through operations, distributions and dispositions. His reputation for building creative, purposeful strategies has earned him the privilege of leading trial teams in high-stakes cases in Texas and beyond, including the following recent and ongoing engagements:
- Representing a Texas real estate developer before the Texas Business Courts in a multimillion-dollar partnership and ownership dispute over a $60 million multifamily development project.
- Defended a real estate investment firm at trial in the Delaware Court of Chancery in an expedited proceeding against its partner over the venture’s control and governance.
- Defending one of the nation’s largest publicly traded homebuilders in the Texas Business Courts in an eight-figure contract dispute over the purchase and sale of developable lots.
- Represented a publicly traded developer at trial in Texas State Court against a Texas local government and its elected officials in a complex case involving claims of statutory and constitutional violations arising from development regulations imposed on a master-planned community.
Kartik leverages his broad commercial trial experience and uncommon command of the real estate industry to build strategy from the ground up on every case — focusing on solving the client’s problems, not just answering their questions. As a result of this approach, Kartik has filed a growing number of specific performance lawsuits against local governments and their elected officials to compel approval of his clients’ projects at the outset of litigation via injunction and expedited trial settings. He has deployed this strategy with success, helping clients avoid significant financial burdens associated with the development delays that typically accompany protracted litigation.
Kartik also believes strong trial teams are built through trust, preparation and meaningful responsibility at every level. He works closely with clients and colleagues throughout each case, building collaborative teams in which strategy is clear, junior lawyers are engaged and clients are active partners in the work.