The 2026 Lawdragon 500 Leading Real Estate Lawyers

We’re delighted to introduce The 2026 Lawdragon 500 Leading Real Estate Lawyers.

This is the 3rd edition of this guide to advisors who specialize in real estate worldwide – its development, finance, leasing, REITs, construction, disputes and litigation. They are an amazing group whose work impacts everyone – from the offices we work in, to our homes, from affordable housing to the most swank Las Vegas resorts.

Ann Peldo Cargile is a partner in Bradley's Nashville office. A veteran of the entire range of real estate law, she served as president of the prestigious American College of Real Estate Lawyers in 2023. She handles commercial real estate leasing, finance, joint ventures and distressed properties. Among her deals, she represented Global Medical REIT in more than $900M in healthcare facility acquisitions; MetLife in its $93M acquisition of One Bellevue Shopping Center in Nashville; and a client in its $32M sale of the historic Cannery Row complex in Nashville to Thor Equities Group.

Jannelle Seales is Co-Head of Weil’s Real Estate practice. Based in New York, she handles financing, joint ventures, acquisitions and dispositions. She also advises public and private companies on M&A and divestitures of real-estate related companies. She regularly represents MGM Resorts International, including in its $17.2B sale of MGM Growth Properties to VICI Properties. In just one example of her adept skills in high-profile, complex deals, she represented MGM RI in the formation of a joint venture between MGM Growth Properties and Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust to acquire the Las Vegas real estate assets of the MGM Grand and Mandalay Bay for $4.6B, and to lease those assets back to subsidiaries of MGM Resorts. She also recently represented Brookfield Business Partners in its $8B sale of Westinghouse Electric Company.

Michael J. Baum is co-president of Greenberg Traurig, which has one of the world’s most prominent real estate practices. Based in Chicago, he is also Co-Chair of its Global Real Estate Practice. He particularly focuses on bringing together multidisciplinary teams to provide comprehensive legal counsel to maximize the value of the firm’s global real estate platform for its clients. He specializes in forming real estate opportunity funds, joint ventures, acquisitions, developments, financings, leasing, and dispositions of data centers. His work is worldwide, from representing Walton Street Capital and its Brazilian partner, Banco BTG Pactual, in the financing of the development of a shopping center in São Paolo to representing Corus Bank, N.A. in the origination of several billion dollars of construction loans for residential condominium, office and hotel projects in New York City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Miami.

These are just three of an amazing wealth of real estate advisors at the top of their game recognized on this year’s guide. We selected this guide with our proprietary process, combining independent research, submissions and vetting. Those individuals marked with an asterisk are permanent members of our Hall of Fame.