Real Estate Attorney

Distinct | North America; Raleigh (NC); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

The Raleigh firm is seeking a Commercial Real Estate Attorney at Senior Associate or Partner level, admitted in NC or eligible. You’ll own complex CRE transactions from term sheet to closing, lead deals, and grow a practice with firm support.

Expect a billable target, and hybrid working as you set the split. The role rewards client development and running transactions independently while collaborating with the firm’s top real estate litigators when needed.

Qualifications

• 3+ years on complex commercial real estate transactions, including deals you’ve led
• Admitted in North Carolina, or eligible
• Comfortable owning a deal from term sheet to closing
• Keen to build a practice; existing clients help and drive counts

Responsibilities

• Before the deal: title, survey and due diligence review; land use and zoning work; shape term sheets.
• During the deal: acquisitions and dispositions; real estate finance; development and leasing; you run the timeline.
• If the deal goes sideways: litigators handle disputes; you stay in the loop and maintain client relationships.
• After closing: grow your own book with firm backing; you set the hybrid work split.

Job description

Commercial Real Estate Attorney (Senior Associate or Partner Level) | Raleigh, NC | $150,000 to $260,000

Clients forget the deals that closed smoothly. They remember the one that didn’t, and who sorted it out.

At this Raleigh firm, a nationally ranked real estate litigation team sits down the hall. If one of your deals goes sideways, they take the fight. You keep the client, and the client remembers you.

I’m Clark Pollins at Distinct Recruitment, hiring for a Raleigh law firm whose real estate practice is growing. They want an experienced commercial real estate attorney who wants a practice of their own, with the billable target as part of the job rather than the whole of it.

Before the deal

• Title, survey and due diligence review
• Land use and zoning work, where approvals have to hold up long after closing
• Term sheets you help shape from the very first call

During the deal

• Acquisitions and dispositions, with purchase and sale agreements built so your client knows what they’re buying
• Real estate finance for lenders and borrowers
• Development agreements, plus office, retail and industrial leasing for landlords and tenants
• You run the timeline. Opposing counsel works to your checklist.

If the deal goes sideways

• The dispute goes to the firm’s nationally ranked real estate litigators.
• You stay in the loop, and the relationship stays with you.
• A client who watches a problem get handled well usually comes back with the next deal.

After closing, building your book

• Growing your own practice is part of the role, and the firm backs you while you do it.
• A billable target of 1,800 to 1,900 hours leaves real time for site visits, lunches and the follow up call that turns one deal into a client.
• Hybrid working is your call, and you set the split.

The pay

• $150,000 to $260,000, because the firm is hiring across two levels.
• Senior associates who already run transactions on their own sit toward the lower end.
• Attorneys at partner level with established relationships or portable work sit toward the top.

Who it suits

• 3 or more years on complex commercial real estate transactions, including deals you’ve led
• Admitted in North Carolina, or eligible
• Comfortable owning a deal from term sheet to closing
• Keen to build a practice. Existing clients help, and drive counts just as much.

What happens next

• A confidential first call with me. No pressure, just a conversation about the role and where you want your career to go.
• Two rounds of interviews with the firm.
• Constructive feedback after each round.

In Raleigh, Durham, Cary, Chapel Hill, Apex, Wake Forest or anywhere in the Triangle? Thinking about a move from Charlotte, Greensboro, the Triad, Wilmington or out of state? I’d like to hear from you.