“The smartest person I've ever met and a brilliant tax lawyer. She is very practical and sees problems miles away. “
Chambers USA 2025
"Attracts recognition for her ability to advise on the tax aspects of REIT transactions."
Chambers USA 2025
“A seasoned practitioner, she is experienced and a hard worker. “
Chambers USA 2025
“A fantastic REIT lawyer. “
Chambers USA 2025
Hall of Fame ‒ Tax: US Taxes: Non-Contentious
The Legal 500 US 2018-2025
Dealmaker of the Year
The American Lawyer 2025
MVP – Tax
Law360 2025
"She is a very strong advocate for her clients."
Chambers USA 2024
Ranked – REITs: Tax
Chambers USA 2019-2025
Ranked – Tax
Chambers USA 2019-2025
Profile
Pardis Zomorodi advises US and international public and private companies, including REITs, private equity firms, and investment banks, on tax aspects of complex transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, spinoffs, and joint ventures.
Pardis regularly counsels clients on structuring taxable and tax-free mergers, acquisitions, dispositions, and spinoffs. She draws on considerable experience advising private equity firms, entertainment companies, and strategic buyers and sellers in public and private transactions.
Pardis often advises REITs on the tax aspects of formation transactions, mergers and acquisitions, securities offerings, and ongoing operational matters. She has also helped clients obtain private letter rulings from the IRS on a number of tax matters.
Pardis formerly served as Deputy Office Managing Partner of the firm’s Los Angeles office.
Experience
Mergers & Acquisitions and Capital Markets
Pardis’ recent representative M&A and capital markets transactions include advising:
Lineage, Inc. in its US$4.4 billion initial public offering of common stock listed on Nasdaq—the largest initial public offering by a REIT
Skydance Media in its US$28 billion merger with Paramount to form “New Paramount,” a next-generation media and technology company
Silver Lake in its lead participation, along with DigitalBridge, in an investment in Vantage Data Centers, a leading global provider of hyperscale data center campuses
Healthpeak Properties in its US$21 billion merger with Physicians Realty Trust, a self-managed health care real estate company
Ares Management in its US$175 million acquisition of Crescent Point Capital, a Singapore-based private equity firm
Harley-Davidson in the US$1.77 billion business combination between its electric motorcycle division, LiveWire, and AEA-Bridges Impact Corp., a special purpose acquisition company
Extra Space Storage in its US$12.4 billion acquisition of Life Storage, a self-administered and self-managed equity REIT that is in the business of acquiring and managing self-storage facilities
INDUS Realty Trust in its US$868 million sale to Centerbridge Partners and GIC Real Estate
Virgin Galactic in its merger with Social Capital Hedosophia, creating the first publicly-traded commercial human spaceflight company
Entercom in its US$3 billion merger with CBS Radio
Ares Capital Corporation in its US$3.4 billion acquisition of American Capital
Legendary Entertainment, a US-based film and television production company, in its US$3.5 billion majority stake sale to Dalian Wanda Group
Participant Media in its joint venture with DreamWorks Studios, Reliance Entertainment, and Entertainment One to form Amblin Partners, a new film, television, and digital content creation company
REITs
Her REIT clients, including as underwriter’s counsel, consist of:
Lineage, Inc.
Healthpeak Properties, Inc.
Rexford Industrial Realty, Inc.
Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc.
Extra Space Storage Inc.
Summit Hotel Properties
Douglas Emmett, Inc.
Spinoff Transactions
Pardis has also represented multiple clients in spinning-off business segments and divisions to create stand-alone, independent publicly listed companies, including:
Howard Hughes Holdings in its tax-free spinoff of its Seaport Entertainment division into a separate public company
Colfax Corporation in its tax-free spinoff of its fabrication technology and specialty medical technology businesses into two differentiated, independent, and publicly-traded companies
Worthington Industries in its tax-free spinoff of the company’s steel processing business into a new public company
Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the tax-free distribution of its OmniAb antibody discovery business and the subsequent business combination with Avista Public Acquisition Corp. II, resulting in OmniAb, Inc. becoming an independent publicly traded company
Delphi Automotive in its tax-free spinoff of the Powertrain Systems segment to its shareholders
Exterran Holdings, Inc. in its tax-free spinoff of its international services and global fabrication businesses, a publicly traded company, to its shareholders
Qualifications
Bar Qualification
California
Illinois
Education
LLM, New York University School of Law, 1999
JD, University of Florida, Fredric G. Levin College of Law, 1997 Dean's List
Partner Pardis Zomorodi was named a 2025 Law360 Tax MVP for advising longtime clients on the tax aspects of transformative deals, including Skydance Media’s merger with Paramount Global and Lineage Logistics’ IPO, the largest IPO of 2024.
Nadia Sager, Lewis Kneib, and Pardis Zomorodi honored for representing Lineage in the largest IPO of 2024 and the largest IPO of a real estate company or REIT in history.
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