Real Estate Development Law Blog : Real Estate Development Lawyer & Attorney : Summit Law Group : Seattle, WA : Land Use & Green Building

The Real Estate Development Law Blog is a labor of love for members of Summit Law Group’s Real Estate Asset Group (the “REAG”). Among our ranks, we have an attorney who:

• Studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London;
• Broke her arm(s) 3 times in achievement of a National Pinto Horse Championship;
• Is Considered by many to be The Queen of Recycling;
• Speaks fluent Russian; and
• While based in Singapore, used to report on technology issues.

We have diverse backgrounds but share a common interest in real estate, how it’s utilized, and how we can best be of service to those shaping the real estate scene. Our goal with the blog is to explore development related news/issues/ideas that are of interest to us and – we hope – our readers. If there’s a topic you’d like to see addressed in our blog, just let us know!

When an architect, who becomes an urban planner, decides to become a lawyer, what do you get? Yep, a real estate/development lawyer, who loves the practice of law. From working as an apprentice architect in London, England, under Sir Terry Farrell, to collecting census data in a Caribbean island shanty town while earning his masters degree, to practicing design, construction and real estate law as a young associate in two of Washington’s largest firms, Richard E. Mitchell has focused his career on all things real estate. With the built environment being as influenced by policy as it was about law, it’s no wonder Richard served as the General Counsel to Governor Christine Gregoire from January 2005 through December 2008, before joining the Summit Law Group as a Member. Richard can be reached by email at richardm@summitlaw.com.

After starting with a big D.C. firm, Marta Lowe became in-house counsel to a beloved client who owns nearly 30 hotels and has a retail/office/industrial portfolio with more than 8,000,000 sf. of property. That change in practice gave Marta the opportunity to participate in the real estate development process from the inside out – site selection, land use, design, construction, leasing, property management, collections and litigation – a truly amazing thing for a real estate junkie to be able to do. Being a go-to lawyer for a REIT of this size meant tremendous experience in the leasing, property management, purchase/sale and development realms, as well as the financing deals that allowed it all to move forward. She found her way back to Seattle, and private practice at Summit Law Group as a Member, with the desire to apply that client-focused, behind-the-scenes knowledge – and passion - to her practice. Marta can be reached by email at martal@summitlaw.com.