Three Commercial Real Estate Attorneys Describe a Typical Workday
Commercial real estate attorneys work on a variety of cases, ranging in topic from zoning laws, commercial leases, property rights and land use, real estate development law, landlord-tenant disputes, breaches of contract, and much more.
“A commercial real estate attorney, at a very base level, is a deal maker,” said Anthony Marre, an attorney at Wilson Cribbs & Goren. “When you’re running real estate transactions, whether you’re representing a buyer, a seller, a borrower, a lender, or a developer, there’s a very specific business transaction that you’re trying to close. And you have a role in taking that transaction from the beginning stages to the very end.”
Commercial and residential real estate attorneys work on many of the same types of duties, but in commercial law, lawyers need specific knowledge and experience pertaining to business, property management and development.
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“We help people buy and sell commercial real estate assets,” Marre added. “We help them finance commercial real estate assets, or help them develop commercial real estate assets from the ground up.”
While many commercial real estate lawyers are generalists, working in all areas of commercial real estate law, others focus on specific facets like zoning or land use regulation. Real estate laws also change very slowly, Marre said, which is an advantage in that commercial real estate attorneys don’t have to spend too much time learning new laws and researching changes.
Jo-Ann M. Marzullo, an attorney at the law firm Ligris, said she works on “leasing, retail leasing, construction contracts, architects’ contracts, commercial financing,” and more, both on the tenant side and the landlord side.
“It’s a great variety of things that you could be dealing with,” Marzullo said.
What Does a Typical Workday Look Like for a Commercial Real Estate Attorney?
The first fact to note is that a commercial real estate lawyer’s schedule is not 9 to 5. The workdays are long, and often unexpected.
David Cannady, an attorney and founder at Cannady & Associates Real Estate, starts his workday early.