Richard Spore is a Member in the firm's Memphis office. He graduated from The University of the South summa cum laude and from The University of Virginia Law School. Richard also received an M.B.A. in finance from Christian Brothers University.
Richard practices in the areas of commercial real estate development, finance and leasing; business planning for business and real estate owners; partnerships and joint ventures; and business divorces. He also is active in developing legislation in the business law area, having served as the chair of the Tennessee Bar Association Committee that drafted Tennessee's Revised Limited Liability Company Act. Richard also chaired the Tennessee Bar Association's Revised Uniform Partnership Act Task Force and served as the primary draftsman of Tennessee's Revised Uniform Partnership Act.
Richard is a past chair of the Tennessee Bar Association's Business Law Section and has served as a member of the board of directors of the Memphis Bar Association. He is a frequent writer and speaker on business and commercial law topics and has authored two books, "Business Organizations in Tennessee" and "The Partnering Paradigm: An Entrepreneur's Guide to Strategic Alliances." Richard also periodically teaches as an adjunct professor of business law at The University of Memphis Law School. He is also listed in The Best Lawyers in America® and Chambers USA.
Richard's legal experience includes:
- Representing local, regional and national real estate developers, investors and REITs in a wide variety of projects, including land, office, retail, industrial and hotel developments and partnership and joint venture formations, conversions, mergers and buyouts.
- Representing local, regional and national borrowers and lenders in a variety of real estate and asset based loan transactions, including loan syndications and participations, defeasance transactions and credit enhancements on bond transactions.
- Representing companies and real estate owners in PILOT (Payment-In-Lieu of Taxes) transactions.
- Representing developers in a variety of commercial and residential condominium projects.
- Representing real estate owners and tenants in a variety of commercial lease and build-to-suit lease transactions and in complicated lease work-outs and disputes.
- Acting as general outside counsel for a number of start-up and privately held companies.
- Representing business owners and professionals in buyouts and business "divorces."
Richard's recent speaking engagements include:
- "Conquering Advanced Issues Under the Tennessee Revised LLC Act," M. Lee Smith Publishers LLC Conference, 2009.
- “Lease Restructurings and Work-Outs During Troubled Times,” ICSC Tennessee/Kentucky Idea Exchange & Alliance Program, 2009.
- "Avoiding Common Pitfalls in Drafting LLC Operating Agreements," 2005 Annual Meeting of the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association.
- "Representing a Client in a Business Divorce," 2005 Bench Bar Conference of the Memphis Bar Association.
- "Understanding the New LLC Act," Tennessee Bar Association Seminar, 2005.
- "Build-to-Suit Leases," 2005 Seminar for the Commercial Council Section of the Memphis Area Association of Realtors.
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