REAL ESTATE
Our real estate practice broadly serves all aspects of real estate activity. We serve regional and national developers, lenders, investors, landlords, tenants, title insurers, property managers, and others in the development, acquisition, disposition, financing, leasing, entitlement, zoning, and planning of all sizes and kinds of real estate including residential, commercial, retail, agricultural, industrial, and mixed-use properties. We commonly counsel our clients with respect to legal structure and organization and traditional and non-traditional acquisition, development, and construction financing, gap financing, mezzanine financing, bridge financing, and permanent financing. We also provide broad real estate litigation services including quiet title actions, foreclosures, condemnation defense, and other actions commensurate with the breadth of our real estate transaction practice.
LITIGATION
Our litigation practice is indispensable as an independent practice and as a component of our of our other practice areas. In addition to providing full services and support as part of our transaction practices, we regularly represent plaintiffs, defendants, and other litigants in a broad range of proceedings including commercial, contract, and partnership disputes, foreclosure proceedings, real estate disputes, quiet title actions, government claims, condemnation defense; personal injury; medical malpractice and others.
BUSINESS & CORPORATE
Our business and corporate counsel experts combine that knowledge with an intimate understanding of our clients’ business goals to deliver creative and effective business solutions for privately-held companies across the country.
Our clients represent nearly every segment of industry, including media, hospitality, insurance, manufacturing, retail, banking and finance, real estate, energy, technology, transportation, and more. Clients look to us for strategic counsel on corporate and securities matters, mergers and acquisitions, dispositions, debt and equity financing, real estate, bankruptcy, project and structured finance, and compliance with laws and regulations governing international trade.
HOSPITALITY
Our hospitality practice team provides full-service representation to owners, developers, and managers of hotel and restaurant properties throughout the United States. Our attorneys draw from decades of experience in advising our hospitality clients on a spectrum of unique hospitality industry legal needs, including:
- Investigation, acquisition, disposition, management, financing, franchising of hospitality properties and operations including mixed use developments involving residential, commercial, restaurant and recreational components.
- Negotiation and preparation of hotel management agreements; franchise agreements; technical service agreements; development agreements; operational, professional and enterprise vendor service agreements; and partnership agreements among investors and developers.
- Construction agreements and documents, leasing, purchase and sale transactions, and other related real estate and finance documents.
- Advice and counsel on day-to-day matters arising in connection with hotel operations and management such as guest or group relations issues, employment issues, and sales and marketing contracting support.
OUTSIDE GENERAL COUNSEL SERVICES
Our practice offers outside General Counsel Services to our clients. General Counsel Services are designed for large and small corporate clients who want legal representation for corporate formalities and day-to-day business legal issues without having to hire a full-time general counsel and without incurring the high overhead and multi-tiered staffing of large law firms. We work with our clients by assigning a “General Counsel” attorney from our firm who will meet with and work in conjunction with our client’s executive management team. Our General Counsel Services focus on the following core services:
- Management of corporate governance including corporate minutes, directors’ meetings, shareholders meetings, share issuance, employment contracts, non-compete agreements, risk management, and other requirements for day-to-day business operation.
- Business formation and principal ownership, including shareholder agreements, operating agreements, and partnership agreements
- Employment matters generally, including hiring, retention and termination.
- General business contracting services.
FINANCE
Our finance practice engages in the areas of secured, unsecured, commercial, agricultural, corporate, real estate, acquisition, development, operating and construction lending in single lender transactions and syndicated loan transactions on behalf of both agents and lenders all across the United States. We advise lenders and borrowers on a variety of related commercial financial transactions including leveraged buy-outs, letters of credit, intercreditor arrangements, workouts, loan participations, loan review, and loan purchases and sales. We regularly represent banks and other lenders in preparing loan documentation in small and large transactions which frequently include complex multi-state loans ranging from $50,000,000 up to and occasionally exceeding $1,000,000,000. We also provide related litigation services in the areas of creditor’s rights, bankruptcy, and foreclosures.
TRUSTS & ESTATES
Our trust and estate practice engages in estate and succession planning including the preparation of wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and living wills. We regularly advise clients on charitable gifting, trust administration, and estate administration including the initiation of and participation in probate and protective proceedings. We prosecute and defend will contests, undue influence claims, and fraudulent conveyances.