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This session will discuss what the panelists are seeing in current lease negotiations and emerging issues in the leasing industry. The discussion will include emerging property uses such as AI and industrial, will explore how “standard” lease provisions are evolving in traditional lease markets such as office and retail, and will also address lease negotiation strategies based on concerns regarding the credit of the landlord and tenant.

This program is pending approval for 1 general/ law & legal procedure/ professional practice CLE credits in AZ, CA, CO, ID, IL, NY, OR, TX, WA, and WI for both newly admitted and experienced attorneys. In order to receive CLE credit, remote attendees must complete the Legal Update on Leasing Affirmation Form within three (3) days after the program date.

Speakers:

Neva Wagner

Counsel

Perkins Coie

Connie Simmons Taylor

Partner and Chair of Real Estate and Construction Section, Global Projects Department

Baker Botts

Hope K. Plasha

Partner, Patterson Belknap

New York, NY


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REAL ESTATE NETWORK COMMUNITY 

Whether you are insuring commercial real estate or your own personal home, the cost to insure continues to remain a dynamic market.  Real estate and other investors have started to take a much harder look at insurance costs when underwriting the potential acquisition of an asset (especially in areas prone to catastrophic weather events like California and Florida).  Experts from Marsh (the world's leading insurance broker and risk advisor) will review the current state of the insurance market (and reinsurance market), the coverage challenges that many real estate owners face today, as well as the level of premium increases that companies may expect in 2025.  Our panel includes a senior leader on property claims who will discuss the current trends in claims against real estate owners and operators and how such claims are also impacting the overall insurance market.    

 

Panelists:

 

Bito Borovinsky, Managing Director and Head of Los Angeles Office at Marsh

Peter O’Hare, JD, Senior Vice President and West/Central Commercial US Property Claims Leader at Marsh

Jason Maxwell, Adj. Law Professor, Former General Counsel for The Irvine Company and Hines.

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REAL ESTATE NETWORK COMMUNITY 

During this Legal Update, we will explore the role of mindfulness in both our professional and personal lives. Our discussion will cover topics related to health and wellness, performance, civility, and ethical decision-making. We will also examine the factors that can hinder these goals and how the practice of mindfulness can serve as a stabilizing force to help achieve them. Our conversation will also explore how mindfulness can help us become more attuned to identifying assumptions and biases — both in terms of professionalism and in the context of problem-solving within the practice of law. Because practicing mindfulness is central to our topic, we will learn a popular mindfulness practice that can be helpful in relieving stress and allowing us to see things more clearly.

Co-Sponsored by the New to In-House, Litigation, Compliance & Ethics, and Law Department Management Networks.

OUR PANELISTS ARE:

Scott Rogers
Founder/Director, Mindfulness in Law Program
University of Miami School of Law
Coral Gables, FL

Scott Rogers is founder and director of the University of Miami School of Law’s Mindfulness in Law Program and co-founder of UMindfulness, the University’s Mindfulness Research & Practice Initiative. A nationally recognized leader, Professor Rogers, has been teaching mindfulness to legal professionals since 1998.  He is the author of five books on mindfulness and his work at Miami Law has appeared in the Wall Street Journal and his research has been written about in the New York Times.

Alexis Firehawk
Shareholder, CHDB Law
Tempe, AZ

Alexis Firehawk is a shareholder at CHDB Law and practices in the areas of community association law, business law, and litigation. She focuses on entity formation and dissolution, securities, general counsel, and civil litigation. Alexis counsels nonprofit and for-profit organizations of all sizes, across industries, regarding business transactions and strategy, capital market transactions, intellectual property disputes, and conflict resolution.

Paul Steven Singerman
Co-Chair & Partner
Berger Singerman LLP
Miami, FL

Paul Singerman is the Co-Chair of Berger Singerman LLP, and he leads the firm’s Business Reorganization Team. For decades, he has been nationally known for handling complex restructuring, insolvency and bankruptcy cases, including loan workouts and cross-border matters. Paul has authored and co-authored a number of articles regarding a variety of mindfulness related topics, and he speaks frequently to lawyers and judges about mindfulness and wellness.

AND, FINALLY, OUR MODERATOR IS:

Gisela M. Munoz
Associate Region Counsel, Florida Region
D. R. Horton, Inc. 

Gisela M. Munoz is currently in-house counsel for national homebuilder, D. R. Horton, Inc., and her 25 years of private and in-house practices have included real estate and corporate transactions.  Among other topics, she has written and presented on Mindfulness for lawyers, on both the local and national levels.  She was listed in Chambers USA: Real Estate in the last three consecutive years of her private practice and was elected a Fellow of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers and of the American College of Mortgage Attorneys.  Gisela is a graduate of the University of Miami and Yale Law School.

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REAL ESTATE NETWORK COMMUNITY 

This program orignially aired on April 17, 2025. CLE is not available for on demand viewing. 

A conversation with former general counsels and an ethics expert on handling real life ethics questions that may be uniquely faced by general counsels, chief legal officers and senior legal officers. An interactive discussion with hypotheticals that could be from real life.

Co-Sponsored by: 

  • Law Dept. Mgmt. Network
  • Litigation Network
  • Compliance & Ethics Network

Our panelists are:

Joanna Rosen Forster

Partner, Crowell & Moring

San Francisco, CA

Joanna Rosen Forster is a litigation partner in the San Francisco office of Crowell & Moring where she specializes in complex commercial litigation and investigations, and frequently advises and counsels companies on consumer deception, unfair competition and content moderation laws and compliance. Before joining Crowell, she was the General Counsel and Chief Compliance officer for ContextLogic Inc., dba Wish, a global ecommerce marketplace doing business in 60 countries. Prior to joining Wish she was a Deputy Attorney General for the California Department of Justice in the Corporate Fraud Section.

David Schnorrenberg

Partner and General Counsel, Crowell & Moring

Washington, D.C.

David Schnorrenberg is a litigation partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Crowell & Moring. He represents clients in antitrust, intellectual property and other complex commercial litigation matters. He also serves as the General Counsel of Crowell & Morning, a role in which, among other things, he counsels the firm’s attorneys on legal ethics.

Elaine Taussig

Partner, Crowell & Moring

Chicago, IL

Elaine Taussig is a corporate partner in the Chicago office of Crowell & Moring where she specializes in public and private securities compliance and offerings, mergers and acquisitions, complex commercial transactions and corporate governance issues. Prior to joining Crowell, Elaine served as General Counsel for several companies, including companies in the print and digital media, energy, and health care technology industries.

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REAL ESTATE NETWORK COMMUNITY 

"Relief, Remedies, and Reorganizations: Resolving Real Estate Distress” explores key strategies for managing financial challenges in the real estate sector, including with respect to Chapter 11 bankruptcy, receiverships, and loan workouts. The panelists will discuss legal remedies, restructuring options, and practical solutions to help investors, lenders, and owners navigate distressed real estate assets

Co-Sponsored by the Corporate & Securities Law, and Litigation Networks

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REAL ESTATE NETWORK COMMUNITY 

Join the Real Estate Network's next legal update where we will explore the intricate ethical considerations of using generative AI in legal practice. Attorney Jennie Wang VonCannon will cover:

  • Real World Examples of Irresponsible Generative AI Use
  • Ethical and Legal Obligations Implicated by Generative AI
    •ABA Formal Opinion 512 (July 29, 2024)
    •Judicial and State Bar Regulation
  • Best Practices to Mitigate Risks and Comply with Ethical Obligations

Speaker:

Jennie Wang VonCannon is a technology trial lawyer and advisor with a proven track record of success in both the courtroom and the boardroom — with over two decades of experience and deep understanding of corporate defense in both criminal and civil contexts, cybersecurity, and intellectual property matters. She is a certified AI Governance Professional (AIGP) who can assist clients with creating or updating compliance programs regarding AI (both generative and otherwise), and a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US).

She served for over eleven years as a federal prosecutor, culminating in her selection to serve with distinction as the Deputy Chief of the Cyber and Intellectual Property Crimes Section of the National Security Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. Jennie helps clients in crisis with litigation, internal investigations, law enforcement and regulatory inquiries and subpoenas, and cybersecurity and privacy incidents. With her unique facility with technology and experience with both criminal and civil litigation from the investigation phase to trial all the way through appeals, Jennie helps clients with balancing their appetite for risk within regulatory and legal frameworks and is also able to handle the matter no matter how it develops.

Co-Sponsored by the Compliance & Ethics, Sports & Entertainment Networks

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REAL ESTATE NETWORK COMMUNITY 

Most obstacles encountered from contract to close in real estate deals are things we’ve seen before and, when done correctly, title claims and major post-closing issues are rare. But when things go sideways, they lead to costly consequences, valuable lessons and great stories, which this session will unpack through real-world claims and legal missteps that impacted buyers and sellers. Join the Real Estate Network for our next legal update where in-house counsel will gain actionable insights into risk mitigation, contract clarity and cross-functional collaboration to help prevent their organization from becoming the next cautionary tale.

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REAL ESTATE NETWORK COMMUNITY 

Generously Sponsored by TitleEQ

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Construction loans have unique risks for both lenders and borrowers, especially in this volatile market. This Legal Update will focus on (1) how construction loans differ from traditional real estate financing for a performing asset, and (2) how lenders and borrowers hedge certain risks inherent in lending on an asset that is not yet cash flowing. Our panelists will discuss future advances, lien priority, balancing requirements, completion guarantees, carry guarantees, tender conditions and more, including some of the more material and highly negotiated provisions in construction loans.

Our three speakers today are Misty Sanford, Joseph Hernandez, and Lewis Goss II.

Misty Sanford is a partner in the Real Estate Department in Willkie’s Los Angeles office, where she serves as Chair, Real Estate – West Coast. Her sophisticated and broad-based real estate transactional practice involves all aspects of real estate, with an emphasis on loan workouts, public/private partnerships (PPPs), real estate financing (including CMBS), complex mixed-use developments, purchase and sale, joint ventures, environmental issues, land use, leasing and reciprocal easement agreements, which allows her to assist with the full lifecycle of real estate assets.

Joe Hernandez is a partner in the real estate department of the law firm of Bilzin Sumberg in Miami, Florida. Drawing on his prior experience as a banker and general counsel for a private equity firm, Joe counsels a variety of clients in negotiating and structuring complex commercial real estate transactions. He represents real estate developers, financial institutions, private equity firms, family offices and public entities in all phases of such transactions, with deals across the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean. He handles acquisitions, development, financing, leasing, joint ventures, and advises clients on raising capital for real estate projects. He also represents developers and investors in the area of condominium redevelopment, which oftentimes involves the bulk-acquisition of condominium units and the complex process of terminating an existing condominium.

Lewis Goss II is a partner in the Real Estate group of ArentFox Schiff in Washington, D.C. For 15 years, Lewis has represented banks, private debt and equity funds, insurance companies, and other institutional investors in a wide variety of commercial transactions, including: real estate acquisition, bridge, and construction financing; mezzanine, note-on-note, preferred equity, and other subordinate finance structures; syndications and intercreditor agreements; as well as loan restructuring, distressed assets, and workouts. Lewis has experience with both single-asset and large portfolio transactions with domestic and international borrowers and collateral. Additionally, Lewis represents developers and investors in their acquisitions, dispositions, and development of commercial real estate and infrastructure projects.

Join the Conversation:

REAL ESTATE NETWORK COMMUNITY 

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