Portia Owen Morrison concentrates her practice in all aspects of commercial real estate development and finance. She represents investors, developers, and lenders in multifamily, office, retail, hotel, and industrial development and redevelopment projects, including site selection and land acquisition; construction of infrastructure and buildings; sales and leasing activities; and construction and permanent financing. In addition to development work, Ms. Morrison has an extensive practice in real estate investment and finance, representing lenders and investors, as well as borrowers, in structuring financing through traditional mortgage loans, joint venture formations, structured debt placements, mezzanine loans, and other financing and investment mechanisms.

Ms. Morrison has spoken and has been a seminar panelist on various real estate, practice development, and law firm management topics for programs sponsored by the Chicago Bar Association, the American College of Real Estate Lawyers, the Chicago Mortgage Attorneys Association, the American Corporate Counsel Association, and numerous other organizations. Additionally, she has served as President of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers. Ms. Morrison has been a faculty member for ALI/ABA's courses on Modern Real Estate Transactions and Real Estate Financing Documentation.

The respected English publisher Chambers & Partners cites Ms. Morrison as one of America's leading real estate lawyers in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, commenting that she "excels in all aspects of commercial real estate development and finance." She has been selected for membership in the Anglo-American Real Property Institute, an organization of the premier real estate lawyers in the US and UK, limited to 50 members from each country.

Ms. Morrison is also listed in The Best Lawyers in America (2007), the International Who's Who of Real Estate Lawyers, the International Who's Who of Business Lawyers, and Euromoney Legal Group Guide to the World's Leading Real Estate Lawyers. The Illinois Leading Lawyer Network has named her a Leading Lawyer in Illinois and lists her among the state's Top 50 Leading Women Business Lawyers. She has been designated an Illinois Super Lawyer and one of the state's Top 50 Female Super Lawyers in every year since 2005, when Super Lawyers began surveying Illinois attorneys. In 2005, Super Lawyers also designated her among the Top 100 Super Lawyers in the state of Illinois. In 2007, she was selected as one of the Top 500 Dealmakers in America by Lawdragon.

In 2006, Ms. Morrison received the Girl Scouts' Own Award, in recognition of her extraordinary service to the Girl Scouts of Chicago. In 2007, the Chicago Bar Association particularly cited Ms. Morrison's profound commitment to the work of the Girl Scouts as one reason it was honoring DLA Piper with the Abraham Lincoln Marovitz Lend-a-Hand program's Law Firm Partner of the Year Award.

ADMISSIONS

• Illinois
• United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois

Adhésions

• American College of Real Estate Lawyers
• Anglo-American Real Property Institute
• Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section, American Bar Association
• Real Property Committee and Subcommittee on Real Property Finance, Chicago Bar Association
• CBA Alliance for Women
• CREW Chicago

Activités civiques et caritatives

• Past President, Board of Directors, Girl Scouts of Chicago
• Past President, Board of Governors, American College of Real Estate Lawyers