December 23, 2022
With sadness, we inform you of the death of our partner, valued colleague and good friend, Peter Benudiz, after a brief illness.
Pete was the Global Real Estate practice co-leader and led the firm’s Global Hospitality group. Pete was recognized as one of the leading hospitality lawyers in the United States. He ranked nationally in Band 1 for Leisure & Hospitality by Chambers USA since it began ranking lawyers (2007-2022). In addition, he was named a top real estate transactional attorney by the Daily Journal (2013). He was regularly called upon to provide strategic advice and guidance to boards of directors and senior management of operating businesses on various cross-border and domestic matters, including the Lehman Brothers Official Creditors’ Committee on all real estate and hospitality assets worldwide following Lehman’s Chapter 11 filing. He was also counsel to the senior-secured lender of the World Trade Center Towers in connection with the loan restructuring negotiations and insurance claims relating to 9/11. He advised on billions of dollars of hospitality, real estate, corporate finance and M&A deals, including domestic and cross-border leveraged private equity deals. In addition, he counseled some of the world’s leading financial institutions and private equity funds on the acquisition, financing and restructuring of major real estate and hotel projects.
Before joining Sidley in Century City in 2015, Pete was a partner at Milbank and co-head of the Gaming and Hospitality group. He earned his J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he was a teaching fellow at the Harvard University Government Department.
Pete was the son of a single immigrant mother who brought him to the U.S. from Morocco when he was 13 months old. She raised him and his four siblings, all of whom became U.S. citizens and went to college. He was deeply proud of his heritage, and loved spending Sundays with his family.
Services will be held on December 27, 2022 at 1:00 p.m. at Eden Memorial Park, 11500 Sepulveda Boulevard, Mission Hills, California.