Greenberg Traurig announced Oct. 10 that Kevin Kelley, Andrea Austin, Austin Evans and Chloe Mickel joined the firm’s Denver office. Kelley, Austin and Evans join as shareholders, and Mickel joins as of counsel.
“We’re adding dynamic, talented attorneys to our team in Colorado; legal practitioners who are good cultural fits with our highly collaborative Denver office and lawyers across the firm,” Brian Duffy, the firm’s CEO, said in a press release. “They are team players in every sense, and I know they’ll continue to knock it out of the park here at Greenberg Traurig.”
Kelley and Austin’s commercial real estate practice focuses on master-planned developments, redevelopments and mixed-use, multifamily, retail, office and industrial spaces at every stage in the transaction.
Kelley represented Denver’s Regional Transportation District in the redevelopment of Union Station. Austin’s practice includes public-private partnership transactions for student housing and other social infrastructure projects.
Kelley and Austin also represent public owners of sports arenas, stadiums, ballparks and team practice facilities, as well as professional sports teams, in negotiations concerning leases, operations and facility renovations. The team works on structuring new sports venue development agreements for NBA, MLB, NFL, MiLB, USL and NWSL facilities. They join Greenberg Traurig from Husch Blackwell.
“We couldn’t pass up the chance to join a firm with a global platform that focuses on sophisticated real estate transactions and has a top notch sports law practice,” Kelley and Austin said in a press release. “Greenberg Traurig is known for its high caliber talent, and we’re looking forward to collaborating with energetic and innovative lawyers.”
“Real estate is one of the cornerstone practices at Greenberg Traurig, and Kevin and Andrea are bringing a local development practice with deep ties to the community that dovetails with the firm’s national strategy,” Naomi Beer, co-managing shareholder of the firm’s Denver office, said in a press release.
Evans is a trial lawyer whose practice focuses on defending consumer-facing manufacturers and retailers against claims of product defects in individual and mass tort cases. He was previously senior in-house counsel at Walmart, and he has frequently worked on multidistrict and other products liability litigation on behalf of Walmart and other manufacturers.
In addition to his trial work, Evans counsels clients on risk mitigation strategies, regulatory compliance and large-settlement programs. He joins the firm from King & Spalding.
“Greenberg Traurig emphasizes bringing value and efficiency in handling matters and always understanding the client’s business goals, which is how I like to run my practice,” Evans said in a press release. “There are multiple synergies between my practice and the firm, which has been a leader in the products space and trial work, and I look forward to leveraging those synergies to do cooperative, results-driven work for clients.”
“We expand to support important areas of the firm, areas where we are seeing growing client demand, such as products litigation where Austin’s practice resides, and construction law, where Chloe’s practice adds another development facet,” Beer said. “We can offer a large suite of legal services from Denver to meet that demand.”
Mickel works on both transactional and litigation matters focused on construction law. She represents owners, developers and other construction professionals, as well as interior designers, with a focus on data center developers and operators.
Her practice includes drafting design and construction agreements for her clients’ business needs as well as resolving disputes involving delays, construction defects, design errors and omissions and project closeout. She joins the firm from Brownstein.