Gary N. Ruben

Gary Ruben is a Principal in the firm’s Real Estate Group. He represents clients in all aspects of real estate, including financing, construction financing, acquisitions, sales, leasing, joint ventures, workouts, foreclosures and bankruptcies. He has extensive experience working with lenders making loans in the senior care and health care industries, and has provided counseling on real estate acquisition and construction financing matters related to assisted living facilities, independent care facilities, skilled nursing facilities, medical office buildings, birthing centers and hospital campus buildings.

Mr. Ruben represents clients in complex sale-leaseback transactions, including addressing accounting and tax issues arising in such matters, and assists clients in the purchase and sale of loans and structure loan participations, both as to senior and mezzanine debt. He has also worked with clients in negotiating forbearance agreements and workouts, DIP financings and foreclosures.

Mr. Ruben has been selected for inclusion in Best Lawyers in America yearly since 2016 in the area of Real Estate Law. Since 2005, he has been recognized annually as a Leading Lawyer in Real Estate Law and Real Estate Finance Law by Illinois Leading Lawyers, and has also been named an Illinois Super Lawyer. He is a member of the Chicago Bar Association and the American Bar Association.

Mr. Ruben has presented on real estate topics on numerous occasions, including:

• "Long-Term Planning for Landlords and Tenants," at the Commercial Real Estate Leases Conference, Chicago, Oct. 6, 2014.
• "Long-Term Planning for Landlords and Tenants," at the Commercial Real Estate Leases Conference, Chicago, Sept. 16, 2013.

Mr. Ruben joined Goldberg Kohn in June 1983. He Chairs the firm's Diversity Committee and also serves as a member of the Administrative Committee. From 2007 to 2017, he was Chair of the Real Estate Practice Group.

He received his law degree, magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1981, and his B.S. in Accounting, Bronze Tablet and with highest honors, from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1978. He received the Elijah Watt Sells Award on his CPA examination, awarded to the top three percent on the examination. He is admitted to practice in Illinois. 

Outside the practice of law, Mr. Ruben serves on the Board of Trustees for the Village of Glencoe for the 2021-2025 term.