With more than 60 lawyers situated in seven offices, our Real Estate Practice Group is able to provide clients a breadth and depth of legal experience that is national in scope and matches our commitment to the highest level of client service. We represent clients for which real estate is their primary business, such as developers, landlords, lenders, investors and property managers. We also represent clients for which real estate is an important asset, including manufacturing companies, professional services organizations, retailers, senior living facilities, hospitals and universities. Clients look to us for structuring commercial real estate projects involving complex, interdisciplinary issues ranging, for example, from risk of environmental claims, to compliance with corporate, securities and other regulatory laws, to minimization of tax liability.

Our practice encompasses the following services:

• Investment and Finance 
• Leasing 
• Development 
• Land Use and Zoning 
• Nonprofit Institutions 
• Business Advisory 

Real Estate Professionals

Our real estate lawyers are well known for their capabilities. Many of our real estate lawyers are recognized as leaders in the real estate legal and business communities and are members of legal and industry groups including the International Council of Shopping Centers, Urban Land Institute, CREW Network, National Association of Industrial and Office Properties, and National Association of College and University Attorneys. Our lawyers frequently serve as members of faculty and lecturers at seminars and educational institutions. Three of our partners are members of the prestigious American College of Real Estate Lawyers.

Citing the firm’s early 2007 combination with Chicago-based Gardner Carton & Douglas, the 2007 Chambers USA Guide to America’s Leading Business Lawyers notes the strengths of the Drinker Biddle & Reath real estate practice as including “a highly respected Midwest-based team of lawyers [providing] a strong complement to existing strengths on the East Coast, along with enhancing national relationships in commercial and retail development and leasing, as well as many corporate property portfolio management and real estate investor and REIT representations.”

Additional Real Estate Services

Whether real estate is their primary business, or an important asset, our clients regularly require unique services related to their real estate holdings. Our experience enables us to advise our clients on the following matters:

Construction and Professional Services Contracts
Our lawyers routinely prepare construction contracts and professional services contracts, such as architectural and engineering services agreements, with a view toward clarifying the respective rights and responsibilities of the parties, and minimizing the risks to our clients. For a number of our clients, we have developed standard form construction and design agreements for use in multiple projects. When disputes arise, we strategize with our clients to resolve the dispute, whether by utilizing alternative dispute resolution methods such as arbitrations and mediation, or by litigation with experienced construction litigators.

Common Interest Projects
Our lawyers are experienced in structuring and creating condominium and other common interest projects, both residential and commercial. We are experienced in utilizing condominium regimes, sometimes in tandem with ground leases, to facilitate separate financings of multiple buildings for projects on a single parcel.

Property Management
As a natural outgrowth of our investment and leasing practice, our landlord clients regularly seek our advice on a variety of issues arising in connection with the management of their assets. We team with other firm lawyers to assist our clients with landlord-tenant disputes, tenant bankruptcy questions, labor issues, insurance matters, vendor contracts and environmental concerns.