Real Estate Attorney Houston TX, Commercial & Corporate Law - Susan R. George
Susan George’s practice focuses on commercial real estate and corporate /commercial transactions. Her real estate practice covers all aspects of the process of buying, owning, developing, financing, leasing and selling commercial real estate. She works with clients having a wide range of experience with commercial real estate – including well-established developers and first-time commercial tenants and purchasers. She handles borrower-side acquisition and construction financing, contracts for management, marketing, and leasing property, and sales of developed projects. Susan works with several out-of-state law firms as their go-to Texas counsel for clients buying, developing and financing properties in Texas. She also has extensive condominium experience. Her corporate/commercial practice centers on the formation and restructuring of commercial business entities, as well as raising capital through exempt offerings, stock and asset sales and purchases. She represents her clients in their ongoing business activities and often functions as outside general counsel advising and helping clients to secure and manage other professionals and specialized or out-of-state counsel when needed.
Susan plays an active role in the firm’s Women’s Initiative and summer clerkship programs.
Areas of Practice
- Commercial Real Estate
- Corporate Transactions
Bar and Court Admissions
- State Bar of Texas
- U.S. District Court, Northern, Eastern, Southern and Western Districts of Texas
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Second and Fifth Circuits
- U.S. Supreme Court
Representative Experience
- Work with out-of-state counsel and mortgage brokers as local counsel for buyers, sellers and borrowers in transactions ranging from $185,000,000 to $1,500,000, including issuance of legal opinions for CMBS loans and Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loans
- Represented private school in a $16 million asset sale to an international education company. Continuing representation of international education company as Texas counsel in connection with expansion of campuses, operational issues and credit facilities
- Represented local developer through all stages of acquisition, financing, development and lot sales for affordable housing projects
- Continuing representation of prominent women-owned and -managed real estate investment firm with exempt offerings under Rule 506, purchases, operations and dispositions of office buildings, retail strip centers and pad sites
- Continuing representation of a prominent developers of luxury hi-rise and mid-rise condominium projects in Houston, Galveston, Dallas, South Padre Island and Las Vegas, Nevada, in connection with formation, development and financing of projects, formation of condominium regimes and sales of individual units
- Represented local brewery and distillery in initial capital raise. Continuing representation of brewery in connection with operational issues and expansion
- Continuing representation of emergency medical services company in connection with raising capital, subsidiary acquisitions and general operational issues
- Represent local retail strip center developer in raw land acquisitions, development financing, leasing and ultimately sales of operating centers
- Represent various existing firm clients and new clients acting as landlords or tenants in commercial leases of retail, office and industrial/warehouse space
- Represent local family-owned investment company in acquisitions and refinancing of multi-family properties
- Represented local real estate developers in connection with the mixed use re-development of three city blocks in downtown Waco, Texas
- Representation of local real estate developers in connection with the acquisition of raw land and subsequent development and dispositions of multi-family projects
- Represented local car wash chain in connection with the development and construction of eight express car wash facilities
- Represented local bakery and restaurant chain with expansion to two new locations, organizational structure and general operational issues
Education
- Southern Methodist University School of Law, Dallas, Texas
- J.D. – 1999
- Southwestern University, Georgetown, Texas
- B.A. – 1996
Professional Recognition
- Texas Bar Foundation, Life Fellow
- Listed in The Best Lawyers in America® for Real Estate Law, 2025 Edition
- Houston’s Top Lawyers – Real Estate, Houstonia Magazine, Since 2019
- CREW Star, 2014
- “Texas Rising Star,” as Presented by Super Lawyers, a Thomson & Reuters Business, Texas Monthly, 2004, 2006-2009
Professional Associations and Memberships
- State Bar of Texas, Real Estate, Probate and Trust Law Sections
- Houston Bar Association, Real Estate Section Council, 2017-2018; Secretary/Treasurer, 2018-2019; Chair-Elect, 2019-2020, Chair 2020-2021, Immediate Past-Chair 2021-2022
- Houston Bar Association, Corporate Counsel Section
- National Association of Industrial and Office Properties
- Urban Land Institute
- Women Contractors Association
- Commercial Real Estate Women Special Events Committee Member, Co-Chair 2021-2022
- Texas Bar College
Speeches and Publications
- “Short but not Sweet: Lender-Required Consents and Subordinations from Contractors,” AM Monthly Law Alert, February 2022
- “Counting the Days…,” AM Monthly Law Alert, December 2021
- “A Non-Exhaustive Discussion of Assignment and Sublease Consideration, for Exhausted Commercial Landlords,” AM Monthly Law Alert, April 2021
- “Important Considerations for Landlords on Rent Deferment Requests,” AM Law Alert, May 2020
- “Texas Supreme Court Cases: A Deal is, of Course, a Deal,” AM Monthly Law Alert, May 2020
- “Raising Tax Revenue for a Rainy Day,” AM Monthly Law Alert, September 2019
- “Smart Contracts: Tools for Transactional Lawyers,” Texas Bar Journal, May 2018
- “Blockchain – Appearing in Public and Private Business Sectors,” AM Law Update, November 2017
- “Blockchain: What are the Blocks, Why are They Chained Together, and Why Do I Need to Know?” AM Law Update, February 2017
- “Understanding 1031 Exchanges and TIC Agreements in Real Estate Transactions,” AM Law Update, October 2016
- “Assignment of Rents Post-TARA: Frankly, Counsel Must Give a Damn,” Texas Lawyer, March 19, 2012
- “Crowdfunding – What is it and Can it Work for Traditional Private Offerings?” AM Law Update, October 2011
- “Time to Get Rid of That Cumbersome Limited Partnership,” American Subcontractors Association Subscript, Winter 2007