Joseph Y. Wang is an experienced and trusted advisor for various commercial real estate and corporate transactions.
Joseph has represented landlords, tenants, developers, and investors in every stage of a real estate deal, from site selection and acquisition through permitting, zoning, and disposition. He has significant experience in retail leasing, having represented several major US retailers, and has advised on a number of hotel developments in Boston and beyond. He is also a skilled corporate law practitioner, having assisted a variety of clients in establishing joint ventures, partnerships, and restructurings.
Joseph has been a frequent author and speaker on real estate matters and diversity issues. He is an active member of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, where he served as a co-chair of the Real Estate Section, and its local affiliate, the Asian American Lawyers Association of Massachusetts. He has also served at the Boston Bar Association on the Fundamentals Committee of the Real Estate Section, and on the Promotion and Retention Committee of the Diversity and Inclusion Section.
Prior to joining Rich May, Joseph was an associate at two multinational law firms, and most recently practiced in a mid-size regional firm in Boston. He was also a law fellow at a major multinational corporation headquartered in New Jersey, and was a summer law clerk for the Supreme Court of Alaska.
Awards & Honors
- Mass Lawyers Weekly: Up and Coming Lawyer 2020
Representative Matters
- Represented the purchaser of a two-site hotel purchase in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
- Negotiated acquisition, lease up, and disposition of a day care facility in Newton, MA.
- Closed Boston hotel development project involving city and state stakeholders, public and quasi-public agency agreements, zoning and staging issues, and unique timing challenges.
- Managed and coordinated a multi-phase deployment of R&D campus, including state and local tax incentives, sale-leasebacks, multilayered contingencies, and administration of phased development involving ongoing confidentiality requirements, incentives applications, and regular amendments.
Articles & Talks
- Asian American Lawyers Association of Massachusetts: Lateral Moves: Let’s Normalize the Conversation (Panelist, March 2023)
- “Franchisee terminations of hotel franchise agreements,” Co-author, New England Real Estate Journal, Mar. 18, 2022
- Boston Bar Association: Lease Abstracting – Basic Hows and Whys (Presenter and Chair, Feb. 2022)
- Boston Bar Association: SDNA and Estoppel Fundamentals (Presenter and Chair, Nov. 2021)
Education
- University of Michigan, J.D., 2010
- Oxford University, M.Phil., 2006
- Princeton University, A.B., 2001
Bar Admissions
- Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 2010
- State of New York, 2011
Outside the Office
Joseph is a 25-year veteran of the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Tanglewood Festival Chorus, and makes regular appearances at Symphony Hall and at Tanglewood. He has also had the privilege to sing at Carnegie Hall and at Fenway Park.
He is a board member of the Chinese Historical Society of New England and the New England Musicians Resource Fund, and a regular volunteer at Rice Sticks and Tea Asian Food Pantry.
