Robin Panovka is a partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz where he specializes in mergers and acquisitions, strategic transactions and corporate governance, principally in the real estate, REIT and hospitality sectors, and in cross-border transactions. He co-heads the firm’s Real Estate and REIT M&A groups and has been active in many recent noteworthy M&A transactions in those sectors. Since 2001 he has also been integrally involved in the redevelopment of the World Trade Center, as counsel to the Silverstein development group. He has broad experience in the formation and investment activity of private equity real estate opportunity funds, restructurings, divestitures, buyouts and other transactions involving both publicly-traded and privately-held companies, and strategic joint ventures, acquisitions, dispositions and development of significant properties and portfolios, both in the United States and in cross-border transactions.

Mr. Panovka is a frequent speaker and author on topics involving mergers and acquisitions, REITs and commercial real estate. Among other publications, he is co-author of "REITs: Mergers and Acquisitions," a treatise published by Law Journal Press. He is co-chair of the advisory board of New York University's REIT Center for the Study of Public Real Estate Companies, and serves on the advisory board of New York University's Real Estate Institute. He also is a member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers and serves on the boards of Duke University School of Law and the Harlem Educational Activities Fund.

Mr. Panovka was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and lived in Israel for eleven years. He earned his bachelor's degree cum laude from Cornell University and received his J.D. (with honors) from Duke University. He is a member of the New York Bar.