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I attended the recent ICSC Regional Law Conference in Columbus, Ohio. It was a great conference where I reconnected with many great colleagues – including my son Kendall who is only in his second year practicing law, but recently took advantage of his Dad in a lease negotiation where he represented an escape room tenant and his Dad represented the landlord.

Richard Tranter’s presentation on the need for retail to be experiential was great. But Kendall explained it best when he said “a successful retail experience is one where people want to post an Instagram picture about the experience.” I am definitely stealing that.

The best presentation was actually about cannabis, which is a fast-growing retail industry with very interesting legal issues. As you can imagine, attendance for this presentation was high. (ha!)
Continue Reading Fix Your Lease Even if You Can’t Fix the Weather

University of Cincinnati Law Professor Sean Mangan does not hate many things, but ‘and/or’ has to be first on the list – along with whomever might be playing his Irish that weekend. I had the pleasure of taking multiple drafting classes with him several years ago, but I honestly never quite understood the depth of his anger towards the use of ‘and/or’ (along with “thereof”, “henceforth”, “hereto”, and the like). However, as it turns out, he is in very good company, as many judges and legal drafters seem to have some unresolved anger issues with this phrase as well.

The generally agreed upon meaning of “X and/or Y” is “X or Y or both”. That is a fine definition, but the problem is that the lack of clarity on the surface of the expression can allow opposing counsel to deliberately misinterpret whatever provision is in question in their client’s favor. If “X or Y or both” is what you mean, then just write what you mean! Take a look at how judges and style guides view the use of ‘and/or’:
Continue Reading A Plea And/Or Request: Stop Using And/Or

I just attended the BDO Restaurant CFO Roundtable where I presented the Top 10 Most Important Legal Provisions of a Restaurant Lease. Arranged by Dustin Minton and Floyd Roades of BDO, the Roundtable brings together restaurant industry executives to learn about industry trends. BDO is the industry leader when it comes to accounting services for restaurants. I was very impressed with every BDO person I met and I loved their new office. Wide open spaces designed to encourage collaboration. The best space was the employee dining room which had a ping pong table in it and an attached balcony overlooking Great American Ballpark.

I won’t recreate the whole presentation here, but I will say that the top most important lease provision (according to me) is the construction exhibit/clause. Between chargebacks, bonding requirements, security deposits, impact fees, requirements to work before permits are received, equipment requirements and design requirements, a tenant’s construction budget and opening schedule could be significantly affected. And these things are never covered in the LOI and typically are not even presented until the end of the lease process.
Continue Reading Life is Like a Restaurant

“Street Food” has generally referred to prepared food items ready for immediate consumption sold on the street or in a public space from a food cart, food truck or similar moveable station. The connotation was cheaper fast food.

Today, “street food” is a unique, trendy selling point. There is Piada Italian Street Food that brands…

World Famous Las Vegas Nevada. Vegas Strip Entrance Sign in 80s Vintage Color Grading. United States of America.

I just returned from the National Restaurant Association Financial Officers and Tax Executives Conference in Las Vegas. I participated on a Real Estate Leasing Trends panel with Adam Schwegman, head of the eat/drink department of General Growth Properties and George Galloway of Next Realty Mid-Atlantic, with Ryan Cupersmith of Ernst & Young as our moderator. While there, I was able to soak in some knowledge myself. Here are some of the highlights of what I learned:

  1. Restaurants may be the new anchor in retail developments. A center has to provide an “experience” to motivate consumers to shop at the center as opposed to sitting home and buying over the internet. Restaurants have become a great way to create an experience and draw customers in.
  1. Restaurants are immune to internet competition. Last time I checked, you can’t buy a prepared meal over the internet that comes with a server and clean-up crew, so restaurants appear to be safe from internet competition, at least for now.

Continue Reading ‘Lease’ Vegas

Scott KadishI am a commercial leasing attorney at a large firm. I have developed a decent stable of loyal clients, but not because I am the smartest attorney in the world. I like to think I’m smart, but I would be less than honest if I said that my success is due to being the smartest guy in the room. No, I believe my success is attributable to my client service. I know I have done my job when a client asks if they are my only client. So what is good service? It is not merely returning phone calls or emails. It is going above and beyond expectations. And who is the client? It should not just be the ultimate consumer, but everyone you work with and for. So it is not just the CEO of the company for whom you are providing services, it is the secretary or administrative assistant at the company, it is every other employee at that company with whom you may interact, and it is your superiors at your own company.

I waited tables to help pay for college. As a waiter, my income was 100% dependent on providing good service. And that meant not just bringing the meal, but like an attorney going above and beyond expectations. In many ways, everything I really need to know about client service I learned from being a waiter.
Continue Reading All I Really Need to Know About Client Service I Learned in a Restaurant

Lovett_43_background_RGBSo I don’t know about you, but every time I turn on NPR lately there is some discussion about President Trump’s conflict of interest because of his Washington D.C. Hotel built in the former U.S. Post Office with a ground lease from the GSA. For those of you who do not spend your days analyzing…

Hands_background_CMYKCincinnati City Council recently enacted an anti-wage theft and payroll fraud ordinance designed to protect workers and insure that those doing business with the City pay their legal share of taxes and other financial obligations. The Ordinance is also designed to protect law-abiding employers from unfair competition from businesses that are willing to break the …