We counsel real estate developers, owners, investors, financial institutions and privately held businesses on complex transactions and strategic matters — with a more aligned, more effective model.
Our Approach →Capstone was built to deliver sophisticated, business-minded legal counsel without the inefficiencies of the traditional law-firm model. Our work spans complex real estate matters as well as corporate acquisitions, structuring and other business transactions. We work closely with our clients, providing direct access to experienced advisors and fee arrangements designed to align with your goals.
Why Capstone →Real estate, finance and
corporate transactions,
plus strategic advisory.
Experienced counsel.
Direct involvement.
A more aligned
and effective
model.
Capstone was built to align sophisticated legal advice with the way sophisticated businesses actually operate.
Traditional law firms are structured around time. Capstone is structured around relationships, judgment and results.
Our fee arrangements are designed to create predictability and alignment while allowing our advisors to focus on the substance of the matter rather than the accumulation of hours.
For our clients, that means direct access to experienced counsel, practical advice informed by business realities and a legal relationship that can operate as an extension of the client's own team.
Capstone advises real estate companies, financial institutions and privately held businesses on complex real estate, finance, corporate and strategic matters.
Representation of lenders, borrowers and sponsors in sophisticated real estate financing transactions.
Business-minded counsel in the purchase and sale of commercial real estate assets and portfolios.
Counsel throughout the life cycle of a real estate project.
Ongoing legal counsel integrated with senior management and the broader needs of the client's business.
Advice on corporate acquisitions, entity structuring and the transactional needs of operating businesses.
The quality of the advice should be exceptional. The way you receive and pay for that advice should make sense too.
Capstone combines the sophistication clients expect from a leading transactional practice with a model built around direct access, practical judgment and long-term alignment.
We believe a lawyer should understand not only the legal issue, but also the client's business objective, economics, timing and tolerance for risk.
Our relationships are intentionally close. Clients work directly with experienced advisors who know their businesses and can help them move efficiently from issue to decision to execution.
Capstone is intentionally built around a focused team of advisors who work closely with clients and their businesses.
Stu Goodman is the founder of Capstone Law and a trusted advisor to real estate developers, owners, investors and financial institutions.
Stu founded Capstone around a simple idea: sophisticated clients should be able to receive experienced, business-minded legal counsel without the inefficiencies and misaligned incentives of the traditional law-firm model. Today, he works closely with clients on complex real estate transactions, financings and strategic matters, often serving as an extension of their senior management teams.
His approach is informed by experience on both sides of the attorney-client relationship. Before founding Capstone, Stu served as counsel to a multibillion-dollar real estate organization, giving him firsthand perspective on how developers, owners and executives evaluate risk, deploy capital and make business decisions.
That combination of legal experience and an owner's perspective shapes Capstone's approach today. Stu focuses not simply on identifying legal issues, but on understanding what the client is trying to accomplish and finding the most practical path to getting there.
Stu has built Capstone around long-term relationships, direct access to experienced advisors and fee arrangements designed to align the firm's interests with those of its clients.
Beyond his legal practice, Stu devotes significant time to advocacy on behalf of the State of Israel and other Jewish causes. He serves as a member of the Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency for Israel, including its Aliyah, Ethiopian Aliyah and Government Relations Subcommittees; the Board of Directors of the Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy; the Board of Directors of the Israel Advocacy Group; and the Board of Advisors of the Jewish Agency North American Council.
Outside the office, Stu is an avid distance runner and an ancient history buff. He lives in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania with his wife, Allison, their two children, Shoshanna and Ari, and their dog, Simon.
Justin Davis is a partner at Capstone Law whose practice focuses on sophisticated commercial real estate and corporate transactions.
Justin has spent the majority of his career advising clients on acquisitions, dispositions, leasing, financing and related corporate matters. His experience includes work at leading Philadelphia law firms, where he developed a broad transactional foundation before joining Capstone.
At Capstone, Justin works closely with clients as a practical counselor rather than simply a transaction lawyer. His approach reflects the firm's emphasis on direct relationships, business-minded advice and a fee model that allows the lawyer and client to focus on the substance of the matter rather than the billable hour.
Justin received his undergraduate degree from Penn State, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and his law degree, cum laude, from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, where he served as an executive editor of the Journal of Law and Commerce.
Michael Huber is a partner at Capstone Law with a practice focused on commercial real estate transactions and finance.
Michael advises developers and owners in connection with acquisitions, sales, financings and leasing matters and also represents financial institutions and private lenders in real estate lending transactions.
Before joining Capstone, Michael practiced in New York with both smaller corporate firms and a large international law firm. That background informs a practical approach that combines sophisticated transaction experience with the accessibility and direct involvement central to Capstone's model.
Michael earned his J.D. from New York Law School, where he was a member of the Center for Real Estate Studies, and his B.A. in Government from Franklin & Marshall College.
James D’Arcangelo is an associate at Capstone Law whose practice focuses on commercial real estate and financing transactions, with additional work supporting the firm's general corporate practice.
Since joining Capstone in 2022, James has worked with the firm's clients and senior advisors on a range of transactional matters. His role reflects Capstone's emphasis on thoughtful execution, responsiveness and understanding the business objective behind the legal work.
James earned his undergraduate degree from Drexel University and his J.D. from Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law, where he was a staff writer for the Villanova Law Review and completed the Business Law Concentration.
James has longstanding ties to the Greater Philadelphia region and Bucks County.
Sophisticated counsel for lenders and borrowers.
Capstone represents financial institutions, private lenders, developers, owners and investors in commercial real estate financing transactions.
We understand that a financing is not simply a collection of loan documents. It is a business transaction in which structure, timing, economics, collateral and risk allocation all need to work together. We approach each transaction with that broader commercial perspective, helping clients identify the issues that matter, resolve them efficiently and move toward closing.
Our experience includes acquisition financing, construction and development loans, refinancing transactions and other secured commercial real estate financings.
For our lending clients, we work as an extension of the institution's deal team, combining careful documentation with an understanding of the practical and credit considerations underlying the transaction. For borrowers and sponsors, we focus on protecting the client's interests while keeping the financing process moving.
Representative capabilities: acquisition financing; construction and development lending; refinancing; secured real estate loans; loan documentation and negotiation; lender representation; borrower and sponsor representation.
← What We DoPractical counsel from deal structure through closing.
Capstone represents developers, owners and investors in the acquisition and disposition of commercial real estate across a broad range of asset classes.
We approach transactions from the perspective of the business people making the investment decision. That means understanding the economics of the deal, identifying material risks early and focusing negotiations on the issues that actually affect value, execution and closing certainty.
Our lawyers advise clients throughout the transaction—from structuring and negotiating the purchase and sale agreement through due diligence, financing coordination and closing.
The firm's experience spans commercial, retail, multifamily, self-storage and industrial real estate, giving our advisors a broad perspective on the issues that arise across different types of properties and transactions.
Representative capabilities: purchase and sale agreements; acquisitions and dispositions; due diligence; title and survey matters; transaction structuring; financing coordination; commercial leasing; closing and post-closing matters.
← What We DoCounsel throughout the life cycle of a real estate project.
Capstone works closely with real estate developers from the earliest stages of a transaction through financing, development and operation of the completed asset.
Development transactions require lawyers to understand how numerous pieces of a project fit together. Acquisition, financing, ownership structure, leasing and other contractual relationships cannot be viewed in isolation. We help clients navigate those issues with an emphasis on practical solutions and the ultimate business objectives of the project.
Because our relationships with developer clients often extend across numerous transactions and many years, we bring an understanding of the client's business, investment strategy and approach to risk to each new project.
Representative capabilities: site acquisitions; development financing; ownership and entity matters; commercial leasing; development-related agreements; dispositions and refinancing.
← What We DoLegal counsel that operates as part of your business.
For many clients, Capstone's role extends well beyond individual transactions.
We develop long-term relationships with real estate companies, financial institutions and other privately held businesses that allow our lawyers to function as trusted outside counsel—providing ongoing advice on transactions, contracts, corporate matters and the legal issues that arise in the ordinary course of operating a business.
The model gives management direct access to lawyers who already understand the company, its principals, its assets and its approach to doing business. Instead of beginning each matter with a new learning curve, we bring institutional knowledge accumulated across the relationship.
Capstone's alternative fee arrangements are particularly well suited to these relationships. By moving away from the traditional billable-hour model, clients can involve us earlier, ask questions freely and use their lawyers as counselors rather than reserving legal advice for discrete transactions.
The result is a relationship that more closely resembles an in-house legal function—with the flexibility of outside counsel.
← What We DoPractical counsel for acquisitions, structuring and the transactions that shape a business.
Capstone represents privately held companies, business owners and investors in a broad range of corporate and commercial transactions.
Our work includes corporate acquisitions, entity formation and structuring, ownership arrangements and the agreements that arise in the ordinary course of operating and growing a business. We approach these matters with the same practical perspective that defines our real estate practice—understanding the client's objectives first and then structuring the legal work around the business result.
Whether a client is acquiring a business, establishing a new venture, reorganizing an existing ownership structure or negotiating a significant commercial agreement, we focus on identifying the issues that matter and helping the transaction move efficiently from concept to execution.
Because many of our relationships are long-term, we are often involved not just in a single corporate transaction but in the broader legal and strategic needs that develop as the business evolves.
Representative capabilities: corporate acquisitions and dispositions; entity formation and structuring; operating and shareholder arrangements; ownership and governance matters; commercial contracts; business combinations and reorganizations; strategic transactional advice.
← What We Do