Alumni Spotlight - Chattanooga Office

Describe your history with Husch Blackwell.

I found Husch Blackwell because I interned my first summer of law school at CBL Properties. There I met CBL’s Chief Legal Officer, Jeff Curry, who was a former HB Partner. After my first internship in-house, I applied to Husch Blackwell for my second summer, and they hired me right out of law school. I was an associate in the Real Estate practice in Chattanooga from September 2014 to January 2020.

What drew you to the position you're currently in?

Jeff Curry approached me, saying they needed to hire someone in-house and thought I’d be a good fit. Since I had already worked with many people at CBL Properties through my time at Husch Blackwell, it was a very smooth transition. I still get to work with a lot of the same people, just in a different capacity.

Did your experience at Husch Blackwell help prepare you for your current role?

Absolutely. I did a lot of leasing and sales at Husch Blackwell, and that experience has been instrumental in what I do now. The training I received was incredibly valuable and set the stage for what I am doing today.

Are you seeing any emerging trends in the real estate industry that you can share?

In the shopping center world, there are a lot of anchor spaces becoming vacant, and we’re getting creative with how to repurpose those spaces. I’ve worked on projects ranging from multifamily projects to medical office buildings. There’s definitely a trend towards diversifying uses. It’s been great for my experience to work on these varied projects in today’s economic climate.

Who are you still in contact with from Husch Blackwell?

I still keep in touch with quite a few Husch Blackwell folks. I work regularly with Andrew Hodgson, who is a partner in the firm’s Chattanooga office, and Caleb Holzaepfel, who handles bankruptcy matters for CBL. I also stay in touch with Ryan Burgett and Wendy Proctor. All of these people are my former colleagues, but they’re also still some of my closest friends. I also still get to work with Ron Feldman on a fairly regular basis. Since he is responsible for a lot of my training, I am grateful that I get to continue to work with and learn from him. There are other former colleagues – too many to list here! – that CBL routinely works with, and I enjoy getting to see them at the ICSC law conference each year.