Home Attorneys Bob B. Rosenthal

Bob B. Rosenthal

Founding Partner, Retired

Bob is a co-founder of the firm and was an accomplished business transactions lawyer for more than 45 years until his retirement.

Bob Rosenthal demonstrated early on the keen intelligence for which he became known and which characterized the 45 years’ worth of business transactions he guided with depth and expertise for his clients. A summa cum laude graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, and a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School, Bob developed deep and trusting relationships with his clients who continuously sought his representation over the course of several decades. Not surprisingly, many of his clients became—and have remained—close friends with Bob.

Whether organizing corporations, LLCs, or partnerships, purchasing or selling businesses and real estate, or handling leasing and financing transactions, Bob always employed a creative, solutions-oriented approach to his clients’ sophisticated business transactions.

Recent News

28 Conn Kavanaugh Attorneys Named in the 2025 Edition of Massachusetts Super Lawyers

Read more

How Can We Help?

Contact us today for a solution best suited to your legal needs.
Contact Us

Bob B. Rosenthal

Founding Partner, Retired

617.348.8203

Bob is a co-founder of the firm and was an accomplished business transactions lawyer for more than 45 years until his retirement.

Bob Rosenthal demonstrated early on the keen intelligence for which he became known and which characterized the 45 years’ worth of business transactions he guided with depth and expertise for his clients. A summa cum laude graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, and a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School, Bob developed deep and trusting relationships with his clients who continuously sought his representation over the course of several decades. Not surprisingly, many of his clients became—and have remained—close friends with Bob.

Whether organizing corporations, LLCs, or partnerships, purchasing or selling businesses and real estate, or handling leasing and financing transactions, Bob always employed a creative, solutions-oriented approach to his clients’ sophisticated business transactions.

Practices

Corporate / Transactional
Real Estate

Industries

Closely-Held / Family Businesses
Law Firms
Retail

Representative Matters

Corporate / Transactional

  • Represented an entertainment/restaurant business in negotiating a lease of a large facility to be constructed in a major new retail complex in suburban Boston, including carefully crafted arrangements relating to both landlord and tenant contingencies.
  • Represented the owners of a professional services firm in selling their business in exchange for a combination of cash at closing, deferred contingent payments, and equity in the parent entity of the acquiring company, with the selling owners continuing their employment after closing with substantial managerial authority.
  • Represented the shareholders of a food-industry business in the sale of their stock together with related real estate to a buyer based in another country, guiding our clients through challenging negotiations that included the buyer’s last-minute adjustments to the payment terms of the transaction.
  • Represented a solar power technology company in structuring, negotiating and documenting a preferred class of ownership interests to be issued to a new investor.
  • Represented a transportation services company based in the United Kingdom in its expansion into the New England market, including negotiation of employment and stock ownership arrangements with the CEO of the new U.S. subsidiary.
  • Represented a company in the fuel industry in multiple acquisitions of similar businesses, in structuring arrangements with a key supplier, and in a purchase of real estate with particular emphasis on protection against potential environmental law claims.
  • Represented a regional marine transportation company in several acquisitions and sales of vessels, including associated financing and refinancing transactions.

Real Estate

  • Represented the owner of an urban retail property in leasing a portion of the property to a marijuana dispensary, including negotiating protection for the landlord specific to this use and its lengthy permit process.
  • Represented a landowner in connection with the ecological restoration of former cranberry farm property, including transactions involving a conservation easement arrangement and a subsequent sale to a major regional nonprofit organization that seeks to protect natural resources.
  • Represented the purchaser of a marina and created a “dockominium” structure using long-term slip leases, initially involving the sale of dozens of these slip leases, and many years later handling multiple repurchases pursuant to these leases’ right of first refusal terms.
  • Represented a family trust in negotiating and documenting two related but separate transactions with respect to a single-tenant retail property owned by the trust located along a major suburban commercial thoroughfare, one transaction involving dispute settlement and lease termination arrangements with the tenant, and the other transaction involving the sale of the property to an alternative retail business on terms that included a complex seller financing structure.
  • Represented a family trust in its sale of a portfolio of commercial/residential properties in the Back Bay section of Boston, negotiating simultaneous transactions with multiple buyers and resolving associated tenant issues.
  • Devised and implemented a ground lease structure to enable the separate financing of two buildings on a parcel of land that could not satisfy the requirements for a traditional subdivision, including negotiating key agreements with the lender and the publicly-owned company that was the sole tenant of one building.
  • Represented a biotechnology company in negotiating a lease for its new office/research facility in a major complex in the City of Cambridge.
  • Represented a commercial real estate owner for almost four decades in structuring, negotiating and documenting retail and office leasing transactions, financing and refinancing transactions, and new acquisitions, including responsibility for sensitive negotiations of our client’s long-desired purchase of valuable abutting property in the context of a higher subsequent offer by a different bidder.
  • Represented a developer selling land to a major regional real estate company under a joint venture arrangement in which our client received a multi-million dollar cash payment and a substantial ownership interest in the project.

Credentials

Bar Admissions

  • Massachusetts

Court Admissions

  • Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts

Education

  • Harvard Law School, J.D., magna cum laude (1977)
  • The University of Pennsylvania, B.A., summa cum laude (1974)

Awards & Recognition

  • Massachusetts Super Lawyers in Business/Corporate Law (2004-2012, 2014-2024)
  • Best Lawyers in America© (2021-2023), Specialty: Real Estate Law
  • Designated as “Top Lawyers 2022” by Boston magazine, under Business Law
  • Designated as “Top Lawyers of 2021” by Boston magazine, under Corporate Law
  • Received an AV Peer Review Rating, the highest rating in The Martindale-Hubbell Lawyers Directory

Professional Affiliations & Activities

  • Massachusetts Bar Association, Member
  • Boston Bar Association, Member