DAVID WOLFE

ABR Capital Partners

David E. Wolfe serves as general counsel, chief compliance officer and managing director at ABR Capital Partners, where he has spent more than 25 years practicing commercial real estate law.

Wolfe joined ABR — then known as Alex Brown Realty — in 2004 as assistant general counsel and was named general counsel in 2008. In 2011, he took on the additional role of chief compliance officer following the firm’s registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission as an investment adviser, and in 2021 he was named managing director. Over the course of his tenure, he has represented ABR in the acquisition, financing and disposition of real estate valued at more than $2.5 billion. Prior to joining ABR, he practiced law with Vinson & Elkins in Dallas.

After graduating, Wolfe relocated to St. Louis, where he spent time in temporary positions before landing in the quality control department of a chemical manufacturer. The work, while important, was repetitive — and it gave him time to reflect on a career that would combine analytical thinking and problem-solving. That reflection led him to law school and, ultimately, to a career that has taken him from big law to an in-house role.

One significant challenge in his career came when he was appointed chief compliance officer and tasked with building a compliance program from the ground up. As a self-described “dirt attorney” trained in commercial real estate, he approached the work with the support of colleagues and outside counsel, drawing on ABR’s long history as a fiduciary to focus on incremental improvements and embed compliance as a core part of the organization’s operations.

Wolfe holds a Bachelor of Arts from Union College and a Juris Doctor from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is licensed to practice law in Maryland and in Texas, where his license is inactive.

Beyond his professional work, Wolfe serves on the board of directors for Bikemore, Bikemore in Action and the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore, and previously served on the board of the Homeless Persons Representation Project, including as vice president. He has been a bike commuter for more than 15 years and has logged more than 40,000 miles on two wheels.