Founded by Francisco Augspach, Augspach Law PLLC primarily represents investors, financiers and entrepreneurs in sophisticated real estate and business transactions. More specifically, matters addressed by our firm include asset acquisitions, commercial leasing, shareholders’ operating and business agreements, financing, and municipal permitting. In addition, Mr. Augspach takes a personal interest in the arts and regularly represents artists in connection with their business agreements on a pro bono basis.
Francisco Augspach holds a law degree from Universidad Torcuato DiTella, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and a Master of Laws (LL.M.) from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, New York, New York.Prior to founding our firm, Mr. Augspach gathered years of experience representing lenders and entrepreneurs as an associate to the firm Hamburger, Maxson, Yaffe, Knauer & McNally, LLP, in Melville, New York, and as clearance counsel to the title agent Federal Standard Abstract, Inc. in New York, New York.
Mr. Augspach is the published author of leading legal articles covering topics such as zoning lot mergers and development rights purchases, intensely practical matters such as water charges and sewer rents levied in New York City, and historical reviews of legal concepts that follow us to our day and their implications.
Mr. Augspach is admitted to practice law in the State of New York. Mr. Augspach is fluent in Spanish and German.
A critical historical review of the expanding powers of the executor over real property. At common law, all real property vested in the heir-at-law at the time of death. The executor’s powers over the decedent’s real property are the product of two centuries of statutory law. Originally, the executor was only be able to act on real property in very limited circumstances. Today, the executor is generally recognized as the manager of real property in displacement of the decedent’s heirs and successors. The article traces the struggle over real property between the common law heir-at-law and the executor and identifies circumstances where the historical accidents deliver counter-intuitive legal results.
Transactions involving the purchase of development rights in New York City is an exciting and expanding field. More commonly known as “air rights”, development rights combine an interesting mixture of private and public law. The article provides a comprehensive explanation for the transactional attorney, from public policy concerns to closing due diligence and documentation. The article also challenges some of the standard practices where legal concepts commonly used in the purchase and sale of property –-i.e., matters of private law– are applied to the purchase and sale of development rights, which are a creature of public –-not private– law.
Water supply and sewer services in New York City are provided by the City and administered by the Department of Environmental Protection. Water charges and sewer rents present a challenge because their regulation and billing practices depend on the actual use and physical layout of the subject real property, and because of the right reserved in the Department to bill retroactively for past periods. Closing attorneys unfamiliar with their regulation risk exposing purchasers of real property to liability for water charges and sewer rents for past periods. The article explains the billing system, how to mitigate the risk, and catalogues a number of special but recurrent circumstances and their implications.
Given Mr. Augspach’s multicultural background, the clients of our firm range from local entrepreneurs to foreign investors. The following is a list of representative clients:
Augspach Law PLLC
1280 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10029
Tel. 212.804.8746
Fax 212.257.7066
contact@augspachlaw.com