Andrea Saunders Rifenbark Named to Daily Journal’s 'Top 20 Under 40'

Andrea Saunders Rifenbark was included in the Daily Journal's Feb. 27, 2013 list of the top 20 California lawyers under 40. In an article it wrote about her, the paper noted that, among other things, Rifenbark had represented a pension fund last year in connection with a joint venture to invest in office and industrial properties in Brazil.
 
“It's an emerging market,” Rifenbark told the Daily Journal. “The economy is getting stronger. There is more of a middle class, and people are looking for shopping centers, residential and commercial properties.”
 
Rifenbark also represented a pension fund looking to enter into a joint venture to invest in undeveloped land in Canada, which she called an “interesting transaction and involved a lot of negotiation.
 
“But whenever you are dealing with other countries - with tax and structuring issues not typical of the United States - you work with local counsel,” she said.
 
Rifenbark also told the publication that more and more investors have been taking a hands-on approach to projects.
 
“A lot of times, you'll have one partner putting the money in and the other doing the leg work and day-to-day operation,” she said. “I'm seeing more investors who want more say in the decision making. They want to know what's going on and where the money is going.”
 
Rifenbark said those types of relationships lead to multiple deals with the same parties.
 
“It's partners having their ear to the ground on other investments,” Rifenbark said, “and that's part of being involved in what's going on.”