Raymond J. Werner

Mr. Werner is the Chairman of the firm’s Executive Committee. His practice covers a broad spectrum of activities in the real estate area, including the representation of purchasers, owners, developers, landlords, tenants, lenders and borrowers in connection with all types of properties, ranging from mixed use hotel/office developments and retail properties to vacant land transactions. 

He represents these parties in the context of negotiations and disputes, structuring and negotiating complex acquisitions, financing, land development, zoning, leasing and other matters. Mr. Werner’s practice includes the representation of lenders in structuring loan programs, originating individual loans and the enforcement of lenders’ rights and remedies.

Professional Activities and Achievements

Mr. Werner is a member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers, the Anglo American Real Property Institute, of which he was the Chair; the American College of Mortgage Attorneys; the Chicago Bar Association (“CBA”) and the CBA’s Real Property Committee, of which he is a former Chair; and the American Bar Association (“ABA”) and the ABA’s Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section, of which he was a member of its Executive Committee, Delegate to the ABA House of Delegates and member of the ABA Board of Governors. 

He was also a member of the ABA’s Audit Committee and an ABA Advisor to the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws Joint Editorial Board for Real Property Acts. Recently, Mr. Werner was named to The Best Lawyers in America and Best Lawyers in Chicago in the specialty of Real Estate Law and The International Who’s Who of Real Estate Lawyers. 

He is a member of the Managing Partner Forum Advisory Board, The John Marshall Law School Center for Real Estate Advisory Board and the Governing Council of Advocate Lutheran General Hospital. Mr. Werner was recently named as one of IIT Chicago Kent College of Law’s 125 Alumni of Distinction at the law school’s 125th anniversary.

Publications

Mr. Werner has written and spoken extensively on a wide range of matters pertaining to real estate law. He is the author of Real Estate Law (11th ed.) and Real Estate Closings (2d Ed.). He co-authored Modern Mortgage Law and Practice (2d ed.) and a chapter entitled “Failure of the Workout: Lender Liability in Troubled Construction Loans.”

Education

Chicago-Kent College of Law (J.D., 1971)

DePaul University (B.S., 1967)

Bar Admissions

State of Illinois

U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois.