Phil Weller, managing partner of DLA Piper's Dallas office, is a well known real estate practitioner in Texas who focuses on real estate acquisitions, dispositions, finance, development, general finance transactions and private equity transactions. Since establishing his practice in 1975, he has been involved in structuring equity investments, forming REITs, financings, development, acquisitions and dispositions of office, retail, industrial, and multifamily properties, planned community development, project finance and mortgage finance. Mr. Weller's clients include equity investors, sponsors, developers, interim lenders and long-term debt providers. Among his lending clients are banks, REITs and insurance companies.

Mr. Weller is a member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers (ACREL) and its immediate past president, a member of the board of governors, and a member of the executive committee. He is a past chair of the Texas State Bar Real Estate, Probate and Trust Law Section. He is also a member of the American College of Mortgage Attorneys, the Anglo-American Real Property Institute and the Urban Land Institute. He frequently lectures at ACREL and the International Council for Shopping Centers and co-chairs the annual ALI-ABA Modern Real Estate Transactions program. In 2008, the State Bar of Texas appointed Mr. Weller chair of its standing committee on real estate forms, an appointment that runs from July 2009 to June 2010. Before joining DLA Piper, Mr. Weller was a partner at Vinson & Elkins LLP for 25 years.

Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, published by the respected English research firm Chambers and Partners, lists him in the top tier of America's leading lawyers with more than 30 years of experience working on high level real estate deals and notes that his clients regard him as "one of the best real estate lawyers there is." He is also listed in The Best Lawyers in America for real estate and has been named the Best Lawyers’ 2010 Dallas Real Estate Lawyer of the Year. Mr. Weller has repeatedly been named a Texas Super Lawyer. In 2007, Lawdragon named him among the Lawdragon 500 Dealmakers in America. He is cited in the Guide to the World's Leading Real Estate Lawyers, the International Who's Who of Real Estate Lawyers and the International Who's Who of Business Lawyers. He is listed in the Texas Lawyer's Go-To Guide, and Texas Monthly has named him one of the Top 100 Attorneys in Texas.

Mr. Weller served as co-counsel to the Pasadena Trails Resident Owned Community, Inc., a corporation formed by the residents of a manufactured housing park in Pasadena, Texas, who joined together to purchase the housing park and then take over its management. Working in partnership with Texas Community Building with Attorney Resources (Texas C-BAR) and with the University of Texas School of Law Community Development Clinic, the DLA Piper team served as counsel in negotiating the purchase and sales and as closing counsel when the corporation ultimately purchased the park. The Summer 2009 Texas C-BAR Bulletin hailed DLA Piper's efforts on the Pasadena Trails matter and its commitment to pro bono work.