News & Events
Internationally Recognized Real Estate, Sports Venue Attorney Lou Cohen Joins Locke Lord as Partner in Chicago Office, Co-Chair of National Practice
11/8/2010
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(CHICAGO) November 8, 2010 – Lou Cohen, Chair of the Chicago Real Estate Group at DLA Piper and a former Managing Partner of DLA Piper's Chicago Office, has joined Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell as a Partner and Co-Chair of the Firm's national Real Estate and Finance Practice Group. He is one of only 13 Illinois lawyers recommended by the Corporate Real Estate Cross-Border Guide and one of only 16 Illinois real estate lawyers cited in the PLC Which Lawyer? Yearbook 2009. He also is recognized by the respected Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, Legal 500 and Best Lawyers in America for Real Estate Law.
"Having Lou join Locke Lord is powerful,” said Chair Jerry Clements. “His stellar reputation in transactional real estate matters and in the development of professional sports venues is well-known throughout the legal industry -- nationally and internationally.
"Not only is Lou highly regarded professionally," she said, "but he also is a genuine and thoughtful person who will fit perfectly into our Firm’s culture. Having Lou join Locke Lord helps us achieve key strategic growth objectives by boosting our transactional real estate power in Chicago as well as in all of our offices around the United States. This is great for our Firm, and especially tremendous for our clients."
Cohen worked for his previous firm and its predecessor firms for more than 27 years, minus a brief run as CEO and general counsel for a private venture. He served as Managing Partner of DLA’s Chicago office from 2006-2008.
“I am humbled and honored to have the pleasure of joining LLB&L as national co-chair of its Real Estate and Finance Practice Group,” Cohen said. “After practicing more than 25 years in the largest and finest real estate and sports practices in the country, I am energized and excited to bring my experience to a well-established and highly profitable premiere real estate practice without a significant presence in the Chicago market. I hope and expect to establish the highest caliber group of practitioners in Chicago who will have the flexibility to provide clients with strong depth of expertise, a business and legal focus and the utmost of integrity in a much more cost-effective manner, providing wherever possible budgetary certainty and a value-add menu of services that all clients are searching for today. The attorneys at LLB&L whom I have met over the last several months, to a person, exemplify the culture in which I wish to participate for the remainder of my career; single-mindedness of purpose and firm goals, exceptional intellect and experience, strong institutional leadership, client-oriented thinking, compassion and humor; all of the traits of a true partnership that is thriving and will continue to thrive in the future."
Cohen’s general real estate practice involves commercial acquisitions and dispositions, development, venture structuring and formation, leasing, lending, restructuring and workouts. His sports franchise and sports facilities development practice addresses the development, financing and leasing of professional sports stadia, as well as the acquisition and disposition of interests in professional sports franchises. His clients include private equity funds, fund advisers, developers, acquirers of portfolios of distressed notes or properties, developers of professional sports stadia and arenas, parties seeking to acquire sports franchises, clients acquiring naming and sponsorship rights for facilities.
“We all share the excitement of the possibilities and the strong potential for growth that Lou brings," said Jennifer Kenedy, Managing Partner of Locke Lord's Chicago office. "We are delighted that Lou is now an integral part of our Chicago office and our Firm. Locke Lord is committed to expanding our breadth and depth in strategic areas to best serve our clients here in Chicago and nationwide. Lou is not only a perfect fit strategically because of his exceptional credentials and reputation, but his demonstrated grace, leadership and loyalty also make us thrilled to call him our partner.”
Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell LLP is a full-service, national law firm with offices in Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, London, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York, Sacramento, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. With a vast geographic scope, and a national reputation in complex litigation, regulatory and transactional work, Locke Lord is focused on achieving client success as a team. Among Locke Lord’s many strong practice areas are appellate, aviation, corporate, class action litigation, employee benefits, energy, environmental, financial services, health care, insurance and reinsurance industries, intellectual property, labor and employment, public law, real estate, REIT, tax and technology.