Austen D. Kim

Austen D. Kim is a Law Clerk at Lovein Ribman, P.C., where he focuses on commercial and residential construction law matters, including litigation and transactional work.

Austen is a Juris Doctor candidate at SMU Dedman School of Law, with an expected graduation in May 2026. He will sit for the Texas Bar Examination in July 2026. While in law school, Austen earned a merit-based Dean’s Scholarship and developed a strong interest in construction law through coursework with Professor Steven Doyle, where he studied the legal and practical framework governing construction projects, including contract formation, project participant relationships, risk allocation, and dispute resolution.

Prior to joining the firm, Austen gained substantial real-world experience working for the in-house legal team of a commercial real estate investment group. In that role, he handled sophisticated transactional and legal assignments typically performed by junior associates, including drafting and negotiating commercial leases, purchase and sale agreements, estoppel certificates, SNDAs, default notices, and escrow agreements. He also prepared critical dates analyses, abstracted complex real estate and construction-related agreements, and assisted with closing documentation on multimillion-dollar transactions.

Austen’s background also includes experience in commercial real estate brokerage and property tax consulting, where he developed a strong understanding of deal structure, valuation, and market dynamics across office, retail, and industrial assets.

At Lovein Ribman, Austen supports the firm’s attorneys in representing owners, developers, contractors, and other project participants in construction disputes and transactional matters across Texas. His combined legal training and hands-on real estate experience provide him with a practical perspective on construction projects from both a legal and business standpoint.