About Us

Lauren Silk

Lauren Silk joined Joshua Stein PLLC in 2014 as an experienced real estate attorney. At Joshua Stein PLLC, Ms. Silk primarily handles commercial leasing - both space leases and ground leases - and represented the landlord in closing the largest Manhattan office lease transaction in the first half of 2018. Ms. Silk also represents clients on both sides of purchase and sale transactions.

A New York City native and long-time resident of the Upper East Side of Manhattan, Ms. Silk received her JD degree from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. She developed a passion for real estate while taking property law and real estate contract drafting courses at Cardozo. Ms. Silk began her career as a real estate attorney straight out of law school as an associate at Battle Fowler (later merged into Paul Hastings). She later worked as a litigation attorney for the City of New York, Department of Housing Preservation & Development, and then in the private sector as in-house counsel to Lawrence Ruben Company, a real estate developer. Ms. Silk later worked as an Administrative Law Judge for the City of New York, Department of Finance, and as a real estate broker, and has been engaged as an expert witness in real estate brokerage.

Alexa Klein

Alexa Klein joined Joshua Stein PLLC as Counsel in 2016 with over a decade of experience in commercial real estate law and small business ownership. She represents a myriad of clients on all sides of commercial real estate transactions. Her work focuses on ground leases, commercial leases of all kinds, sales, acquisitions, dispositions, financing, construction agreements between neighboring owners, and all other commercial real estate agreements. Working as general counsel early in her career, she gained legal knowledge spanning corporate governance, investor relations, employment, and partnership creation and dissolution. In addition, Ms. Klein has practiced as a litigator drafting various court documents, as well as participating in legal and court proceedings.

In 2004, Ms. Klein began her legal career at the New York office of Latham & Watkins LLP, where she was mentored by Joshua Stein in the real estate group. In 2008, she moved to a general counsel position at a real estate company that sponsored a variety of investment funds and developed and managed NYC hospitality and commercial real estate properties. In 2009, Ms. Klein followed her passion and entrepreneurial spirit into the business world, and by 2010 opened a children’s yoga studio and company based on the Upper East Side. She found her way back to the law (and Mr. Stein) in 2016, bringing with her real-life business expertise.

Ms. Klein received her JD from NYU School of Law and her BA, summa cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania. She has over 100 hours of mediator training in small business and family conflicts. Ms. Klein is a certified yoga teacher since 2009. She lives with her husband and two children in Irvington, New York.

Cathy LaTorre Weiner

Cathy LaTorre-Weiner joined Joshua Stein PLLC in 2022 after 15 years in private practice. She received a B.A. in international affairs from The George Washington University and her J.D. from St. John’s University School of Law.

After receiving her law degree, Cathy worked at two boutique law firms in Manhattan handling business law matters and mergers and acquisitions. Later, she worked at Bear Stearns as a derivatives attorney and started her own general practice in 2007. Her primary areas of practice included real estate transactions, commercial leasing, advising start-up companies and elder law. Cathy is fluent in both French and Spanish and she has advised foreign investors doing business in New York.

Her focus at the firm is ground leasing and other transactional matters. She also advises some of the firm’s clients on space leasing and general business matters.

Ranjan ("RJ") Samarakone

Ranjan ("RJ") Samarakone manages the firm’s office and information technology, including remote technology, often on a 24/7 basis and while travelling. He specifies, upgrades, and troubleshoots the firm's server, network, two dozen computers, and three workgroup printers, each designed to serve 40 staff members. He oversees all day-to-day office operations, including personnel, inventory, banking, payables, and vendors. He has worked at Joshua Stein PLLC since 2017.

Before joining the firm, Mr. Samarakone ran the Graphics Department at a major building materials showroom in New York City. Among many other things, he created 3D simulations from architectural blueprints, managed several 3D graphics artists, and developed simulations for clients who wanted to visualize their projects in detail before breaking ground. Working with interior designers, he also designed mosaic and tile installations to help realize the fantasies of some of the firm's clients. His work appears in many private homes and businesses in the Tri-State Area.

Mr. Samarakone earned a master's degree in computer science from CUNY and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Wichita State University. He immigrated from Sri Lanka many years ago, and still loves to travel to explore architectural wonders of the world.

Art has always been a huge side interest for Mr. Samarakone. He had his first solo art show at age 8 in Sri Lanka. Today, he continues to create artwork, both digitally and using traditional art materials. His style is usually a mixture of pointillism and pastels. With the firm's blessing, he undertakes occasional freelance commercial art assignments and can be reached for that purpose at the office.

Mr. Samarakone is the Art Director of Advanced Commercial Real Estate Press, the imprint created by Joshua Stein for his three-volume book on ground leases (acrepress.com/new-guide-to-ground-leases/). Mr. Samarakone designed the cover artwork as well as frontispieces for each volume. This may be the only legal book with frontispieces.

He is an active member of the New York Chapter of the Association of Law Administrators.