Global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP expanded its Real Estate Practice with the addition of Shareholder Paul M. Williams. He joins the firm from Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP.
Williams’ practice rests at the intersection of the firm’s Real Estate and Energy & Natural Resources practices. He advises clients acquiring, selling, leasing, and financing real property across the United States, ranging from Class A commercial and luxury residential properties, to energy and industrial facilities, to vast agricultural holdings.
Over the past decade, he has guided high profile purchase and sale transactions on Rodeo Drive, in Napa and Sonoma Valley, and along the California and Texas coastlines. He also works with clients who are buying or selling oil and gas assets, whether to operate or to redevelop them, and has deep experience in the acquisition and sale of traditional generation and Renewable Energy facilities, including wind, solar, and battery storage projects. In addition, Williams works on Agribusiness matters, buying, selling, leasing, and financing large commercial farms, and on industrial real estate matters, such as produce warehouses, shipping terminals, and port development.
“We saw an opportunity to add another pro to our California real estate team; someone who complements the existing practices at the firm,” Co-Managing Shareholders of the Los Angeles office Gregory A. Fishman and Barbara A. Jones said in a joint statement. “Paul’s sophisticated practice will allow us to offer yet another service to our clients who can benefit from our premiere global real estate platform.”
Williams will be based in both Los Angeles and Austin, collaborating with colleagues in the firm’s three Texas offices. He will continue to counsel energy companies and utilities across a spectrum of transactions, including traditional resource extraction and renewables work as part of the energy transition. Williams also advises clients on lithium projects, an exciting growth area in the United States.
“Paul has been instrumental in supporting global power companies in their leasing and development matters related to an array of energy generation and storage facilities. There is a significant crossover between his energy sector-focused work and the firm’s Global Real Estate Practice, and we are excited for the synergies that his arrival brings to the team,” said Michael J. Baum, co-chair of the Global Real Estate Practice and a senior vice president of the firm.
“Greenberg Traurig has some of the best real estate lawyers in the country working on leading edge projects,” Williams said. “Because real estate is a core practice at the firm, I have access to a platform that can add great value for clients, and frankly that’s my most important job as counsel and trusted advisor.”
Williams received his J.D. from the University of Calgary, an MPhil from the University of Cambridge, and a B.A., cum laude, from Amherst College. He is licensed to practice law in California, Texas, and Alberta, Canada.
Williams’s hire follows a number of significant additions to the firm’s Energy & Natural Resources Practice, including Shareholders Regina A. Pearson in Austin and David Gillespie in New York; Energy Project Finance & Development Shareholders Audrey Louison and Noah Pollak in Washington, D.C., Eric W. Macaux in Boston, Shashank Krishna in London, and Of Counsel C. Logan Anderson in Atlanta; Energy M&A Shareholder Paolo Esposito in Milan; and the head of the Energy & Natural Resources Practice in Poland, Konrad Kosicki. It also follows the launch of the Asia Energy & Infrastructure Practice which is anchored by Joseph Kim, Jared Raleigh, and William Wu in the firm’s recently opened Singapore office.
