Washington D.C. (June 2, 2015) – Morris, Manning & Martin, LLP (MMM), today announced that former Hogan Lovells partner Carol Weld King has joined the firm’s Washington, D.C. office, expanding the real estate practice group in that office started a year ago by Betsy Karmin. King’s practice will focus primarily on transactions in the hospitality and lodging industry, complementing the firm’s strong hospitality practice in Atlanta.
King is well known in the hospitality arena, having most recently advised on the financing of the Marriott Marquis in Washington, D.C., which won Development of the Year at the 2015 Americas Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS), as well as led the team advising on Thayer Lodging Group’s acquisition of the Diplomat Resort & Spa in Hollywood, Florida, which won ALIS’s Single Asset Transaction of the Year award for 2014.
“Carol is renowned as a top hospitality attorney,” said Tom Gryboski, head of MMM’s national hospitality practice. “The caliber of her practice and client relationships is outstanding, and she will be a significant contributor to our overall growth.”
Carol brings with her to the D.C. office senior associate David Reina, as well as former Hogan associate Anna Kouba, who will work out of the firm’s Raleigh office. “MMM has built a powerhouse real estate team in D.C., and we look forward to continuing our relationship with Carol, Dave and Anna at their new firm,” said King client Bruce Wiles, president and COO of Thayer Lodging Group. “Carol is a talented business and legal advisor who I believe will flourish in a more real-estate centric firm.”
MMM provides full-service real estate counsel on matters ranging from development and capital markets transactions to environmental issues and litigation. In 2014, MMM handled the largest deal volume of REIT mergers and acquisitions of any real estate law firm in the country, including representing Cole Real Estate Investments in its $11.2B merger with ARCP -- the largest net lease REIT in the country.
“MMM’s D.C. office has tripled in size over the past two years, largely by attracting big firm talent to our entrepreneurial firm atmosphere – an attribute that both makes us an attractive place to work and allows us to provide unrivaled attention to our clients’ needs,” said Louise Wells, managing partner at MMM. “Carol is a great fit for us, both from a practice expertise and client mix perspective, as well as culturally.”
King has represented various owners, investors, developers, and lenders in a broad range of transactional work for hospitality and gaming, office, multifamily, mixed-use, and light industrial projects. She currently serves as principal counsel to several hotel equity funds and public and private companies in connection with a series of hotel acquisitions, financings, and ground-up developments throughout the United States. In addition, King serves as principal transactional counsel to a prominent Native American tribe in connection with one of the country's largest gaming and hospitality projects. King received her J.D. from University of Virginia School of Law, has been ranked a “Top Lawyer” by Washingtonian Magazine and is listed in Super Lawyers and Legal 500. Both King and MMM are Chambers ranked for real estate.
About Morris, Manning & Martin, LLP
Morris, Manning & Martin (www.mmmlaw.com) is an AmLaw 200 law firm with national and international reach. MMM is dedicated to the constant pursuit of its clients’ success. The firm combines market-leading legal services with a deep understanding of its clients’ industries and businesses. MMM enjoys national prominence for its real estate, corporate, litigation, technology, healthcare, intellectual property, energy and infrastructure, capital markets, environmental, insurance, and timberland and forest products practices. MMM has offices in Atlanta, Raleigh-Durham, Savannah, Taipei, Beijing and Washington, D.C., and an alliance with GCN in São Paulo, Brazil.
Contact:
Julie Chase or Jon Amar
jchase@chasepr.com or jamar@chasepr.com
(202) 997-8677 or (925) 270-6511
