Flavia Berys is an associate in the Real Estate and Land Use groups, focusing her practice on real estate development matters for the San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, and San Diego offices.

She represents clients in the development, leasing, acquisition, disposition, and financing of commercial real estate, including environmental and transactional due diligence and California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) litigation matters. Her practice also includes experience with sustainable building and "green" leasing issues.

Representative matters include:

• Title, survey, railway rights and closing work for the acquisition of an approximately 60-acre vacant datacenter development site in South Jordan, Utah (approximately $9.9 million)
• Drafting of purchase and sale agreement and closing coordination for historical property in San Francisco, California (approximately $5 million)
• Title, survey and closing work for the acquisition of a tennis stadium and tournament rights in Indian Wells, California (approximately $100 million)
• Closing coordination for cross-border bankruptcy emergence matter for global client involving multiple law firms and jurisdictions (approximately $965 million)
• Title, survey and closing work for the acquisition by REIT of R&D property portfolio in San Diego, California (approximately $67.4 million)
• Diligence, entitlements review, title, survey and closing work for foreclosure proceeding by lender client of 200-plus acre redevelopment site in Sacramento, California (approximately $50 million)
• Drafting and closing coordination for matter involving multi-state transfer of several thousand telecommunication parcels and easements for national client
• Title, survey, zoning and closing work for the acquisition by REIT of assisted care living facility Cherry Hill, New Jersey (approximately $14.2 million)
• Negotiation and review of office and retail leases and subleases for tenant clients
• Drafting form lease for retail shopping center landlord client
• Drafting leases and amendments for office tower landlord client
• Conducting diligence for multiple corporate mergers and acquisitions transactions in connection with the acquisition of real estate assets
• Multi-state research on broker and property management licensing requirements
• Drafting construction defect claim correspondence and analyzing contractor obligations under AIA contracts
• Conducting review of entitlements for multi-family portfolio joint venture
• Successful opposition of Petitions for Review to the California Court of Appeal and California Supreme Court on behalf of developer client defending project entitlements for mixed-use project in Los Angeles, California
• Conducting diligence for matter involving 55 non-consolidation opinions related to client's emergence from bankruptcy
• Conducting legal research on topics such as chilled water regulation; strict liability in construction defect claims based on site selection; corporate backdating issues; internet publisher exemption from real estate licensing; professional sports team stadium seat licensing regulations; solar energy rooftop system approval legislation; and anti-indemnity provision enforceability with respect to architects and engineers

Prior to her career as a real estate and land use attorney, Ms. Berys worked in property management and in the residential mortgage lending industry.

Ms. Berys received her B.A. in English with a specialization in Business and Administration from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and her law degree (magna cum laude) from California Western School of Law, San Diego. During law school, she was on the editorial board for both the Law Review and International Law Journal, and was Editor-in-Chief for The Commentary, the student newspaper.

She is a member of the State Bar of California and is licensed as a Real Estate Broker by the California Department of Real Estate. Ms. Berys is also accredited as a LEED AP by the US Green Building Council.

Ms. Berys currently serves on the DLA Piper Pro Bono Committee for the San Diego office and volunteers for the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo and the Pro Bono Project of Silicon Valley. She served a 2.5 year term on the Board of Directors for Ecumenical Hunger Program in East Palo Alto, one of DLA Piper's pro bono clients and recipient of the Silicon Valley office's long-standing charitable support. She is currently coordinator for a project which provides Bay Area in-house corporate counsel with pro bono opportunities, support, and training. In 2009, she received DLA Piper's Justice Seymour Simon Project Award for her pro bono work.

Licenses, Commissions, Accreditation & Certifications

• Licensed as a Real Estate Broker, California Department of Real Estate
• Accredited as a LEED AP, US Green Building Council
• Commissioned as a Notary Public, California Secretary of State
• Certified as a Trained Mediator, California Western Advanced Mediation Program