Kushner Cos. Hires New General Counsel From East End Capital

Kushner Cos. LLC, the privately held real estate company owned by the family of White House adviser and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner, has hired Christopher Smith as its new general counsel.

Smith will report directly to Laurent Morali, president of the company, according to a company statement.

Smith was most recently general counsel and managing director at East End Capital Partners, a real estate investment firm in New York. In that role, he managed all investment-related legal affairs and served on the company’s executive committee.

Kushner Cos. former general counsel, Emily Wolf, left the role last month after four years at the company. She now serves as general counsel for BEB Capital LLC, a real estate development and lending firm owned by investor and entrepreneur Bert Brodsky.

Jared Kushner stepped down from the family business when he joined the Trump administration as a senior adviser in 2017.

Before joining East End Capital Partners more than seven years ago, Smith was the chief transactions officer at Penzance, a real estate developer in Washington, D.C. Prior to that, he was a partner at the Los Angeles-based investment firm CityView.

He cut his teeth in Big Law with stints at Paul Hastings, Fried Frank, and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.