Michael is a Director in the Dallas office, where he has practiced in the area of real estate and business law for over 30 years. He began his career in real estate law working as in-house counsel for a large developer in San Antonio, Texas. In private practice in Dallas since 1985, Michael has been involved in many aspects of real estate, representing clients in the acquisition, development, financing, leasing and disposition of commercial real property. Over the years, he has developed a sub-specialty in representing clients with respect to leasing commercial real estate and landlord-tenant law, with clients on both sides of the table, including landlords owning multiple types of properties, from office to retail to industrial, as well as representation of tenants leasing space across all types of commercial real estate. In business law, Michael has represented clients with respect to their entity formations and governance documentation, capital financing, acquisitions, dispositions, and other contract negotiations. He has worked with a number of individuals serving as counsel to their start-up businesses. In addition to his practice in real estate and corporate matters, for the last 10 years, Michael has represented clients involved in the unique business of tax lien lending under special provisions of the Texas Tax Code, including guidance with disclosures, loan preparation, foreclosure and other documentation related to this financial product.
Admitted
- Texas, 1977
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
- U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas
- U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas
- U.S. Tax Court
Education
- J.D., 1977, University of Houston, Bates College of Law, Order of the Barons
- B.A, 1974, The Johns Hopkins University, Omicron Delta Kappa
Affiliations
- Dallas Bar Association
- American Bar Association (Commercial Leasing Committee of the Section of Real Estate and Trust Law)
- State Bar of Texas
- The Johns Hopkins University Alumni Association, President of the North Texas region (1997 – 2010)
- The Johns Hopkins University Alumni Council
- The Johns Hopkins University Alumni School Committee, assisting the Office of Admissions for the University (1978 – 2010)
Representative Transactions
- Represented a large multinational corporation on the relocation of its North American corporate headquarters from California to North Texas, including the negotiation of the land purchase agreement, related easements and restrictive covenants, and multi-million dollar construction contracts.
- Represented a real estate group in the acquisition of a multi-building office complex containing over 800,000 square feet, including negotiation of equity partner documentation and debt financing documents. Concurrent with the closing of the acquisition, represented the new owners in the negotiation of a major tenant lease with a public company for over half the space in the complex.
- Represented a real estate developer in the acquisition of tracts of land in the Legacy corridor in Plano, Texas and along the North Dallas Tollway for development of multi-story office buildings.
- Represented a foreign investor in loan documentation for a major credit facility utilized in the acquisition of real property investments across the United States.
- Represented several start-up companies providing tax lien financing over the years as they grew into multi-million dollar operations, including loan document preparation for thousands of tax lien loans.
Publications and Presentations
- “The New Status of the ‘AS IS’ Provision in Commercial Leases,” CLE International, Negotiating Leases (2008)
- “Rights of First Refusal,” State Bar of Texas, Advanced Real Estate Drafting Course (2003)
- “New Legislation in Texas Affecting Commercial Leases,” CLE International, Negotiating Leases (2002)
- “Planning for Tornadoes and Other Natural Disasters,” CLE International, Negotiating Leases (2001)
- “Negotiating Key Lease Provisions: The Landlord’s Perspective,” SMU Real Estate Law: Leases in Depth (2000)
- “Leasing Potpourri,” CLE International, Negotiating Leases (2000,2001)
- “Due Diligence (in commercial real estate acquisitions),” CLE International, Commercial Real Estate (1994, 1996, 1998)
- “Key Lease Provisions: The Landlord’s Perspective,” CLE International, Negotiating Leases (1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, and 1999)
Activities
- Temple Emanu-el, member of Just Congregations committee