Michael is the head of the hospitality practice and focuses in the areas of real estate and corporate law. With more than two decades of hospitality and leisure industry experience, Michael has particular experience in drafting and negotiating complex franchise and management contracts between hotel owners and operators. He has represented some of the world’s largest and most sophisticated hotel owners and operators in connection with the development, acquisition, disposition and financing of more than 500 hotel and resort properties around the globe.
He is frequently called upon by clients to structure some of the hospitality industry’s most challenging transactions, including documenting strategic relationships between hotel owners, operators and developers. Michael uses his extensive skill in the development of real estate and hotels and the negotiation of hotel management agreements and related documents for some of the key players in the global hospitality sector.
He also is well versed in other areas of real estate, including office buildings, retail, multifamily projects, medical facilities, power generation facilities and mixed-use development projects. Michael has provided tenant-side representation for significant office leases, including for large (multi-floor) users in trophy properties, including the Chrysler Building and 30 Rockefeller Center in Manhattan, and has provided landlord-side representation for significant retail leases in more than a dozen hotels owned by his clients. He has devoted a significant part of his pro bono service to addressing the real estate and other needs of the Archdiocese of Washington as well as facilities operated by Catholic Charities.
Prior to entering private practice, he served for nearly a decade as a senior aide to the late U.S. Congresswoman Helen Delich Bentley, where he handled, among other matters, the Congresswoman’s foreign affairs portfolio.
J.D., University of Virginia School of Law, 1993
B.A., Loyola College Maryland, 1990
Michael is the head of the hospitality practice and focuses in the areas of real estate and corporate law. With more than two decades of hospitality and leisure industry experience, Michael has particular experience in drafting and negotiating complex franchise and management contracts between hotel owners and operators. He has represented some of the world’s largest and most sophisticated hotel owners and operators in connection with the development, acquisition, disposition and financing of more than 500 hotel and resort properties around the globe.
He is frequently called upon by clients to structure some of the hospitality industry’s most challenging transactions, including documenting strategic relationships between hotel owners, operators and developers. Michael uses his extensive skill in the development of real estate and hotels and the negotiation of hotel management agreements and related documents for some of the key players in the global hospitality sector.
He also is well versed in other areas of real estate, including office buildings, retail, multifamily projects, medical facilities, power generation facilities and mixed-use development projects. Michael has provided tenant-side representation for significant office leases, including for large (multi-floor) users in trophy properties, including the Chrysler Building and 30 Rockefeller Center in Manhattan, and has provided landlord-side representation for significant retail leases in more than a dozen hotels owned by his clients. He has devoted a significant part of his pro bono service to addressing the real estate and other needs of the Archdiocese of Washington as well as facilities operated by Catholic Charities.
Prior to entering private practice, he served for nearly a decade as a senior aide to the late U.S. Congresswoman Helen Delich Bentley, where he handled, among other matters, the Congresswoman’s foreign affairs portfolio.
J.D., University of Virginia School of Law, 1993
B.A., Loyola College Maryland, 1990