Buchalter Signs Lease at Fox Tower in Downtown Portland

Buchalter is pleased to announce it has signed a lease to occupy the 15th floor in Fox Tower in downtown Portland. With fifty attorneys and support staff, Buchalter will be moving into 17,000 square feet of the downtown Portland skyscraper by April 1, 2022.

“We chose Fox Tower because TMT Development and Vanessa Sturgeon provided an unparalleled level of service and worked with us on finding exactly what we were looking for in downtown Portland,” said Adam Bass, President and Chief Executive Officer of Buchalter.

In October 2019, Buchalter announced that Ater Wynne, a full-service business law firm based in Portland, had merged its practice into Buchalter significantly expanding the Firm’s presence in the Pacific Northwest. Ater Wynne Managing Partner, Todd Mitchell, became Managing Shareholder of the Portland office and a member of Buchalter’s Board of Directors.

“We are thrilled with our new office space,” said Mitchell. “Buchalter believes in Portland and this is a vote in favor of the downtown core and our business and professional community. We are excited about being at Fox Tower and believe being downtown will help us grow and continue to thrive here.”

Buchalter recently added a number of new attorneys, including high profile Portland Shareholders David Elkanich, Kirstin Day, and William “Bill” Keeler. Elkanich chairs the Firm’s newly launched Professional Responsibility industry group. He focuses his practice primarily on legal ethics, risk management, and discipline defense advising lawyers, law firms, and in-house legal departments on a variety of ethics issues, including conflicts of interest, confidentiality, fee disputes, internal investigations, law firm dissolutions and partnership disputes, and malpractice and professional liability cases. Senior Counsel Amber Bevacqua-Lynott was also brought on as a member of the Professional Responsibility group. Prior to joining Buchalter, Bevacqua-Lynott worked in the Oregon State Bar’s Disciplinary Counsel’s Office where she successfully first-chaired several dozen civil trials, and investigated or prosecuted hundreds of disciplinary matters. She was Chief Assistant Disciplinary Counsel and Deputy Director of Regulatory Services, and acted as Chief Trial Counsel during the last six years of her tenure.

Day, a member of the Firm’s Real Estate practice group, brings over 20 years of experience to her national practice in leasing, acquisition/disposition, development and financing of regional shopping centers and other retail properties, Class A office buildings, and industrial properties.

A member of the Tax & Estate Planning practice group, Keeler has extensive experience in representing families, individuals, and trustees in various estate and trust disputes. His practice focuses on all matters involving estates, trusts, and conservatorships. He has been designated as an expert witness in trust, estate and conservatorship litigation as well as in related tax cases.

Additionally, attorneys Sean Belcher and Cassie Spector recently joined Buchalter in Portland. Belcher focuses his practice on mergers and acquisitions, commercial finance, and general corporate and business law. Spector is a commercial litigation attorney.

The move to Fox Tower is especially meaningful to Buchalter as it has a significant connection to the property. Tom Moyer founded TMT Development and his company constructed Fox Tower. Buchalter’s Chief Operating Officer, Chief Legal Officer, and Executive Vice President Kalley Aman’s grandfather, Walter Aman, worked closely with Tom at TMT Development and played a leading role in the financing and construction of Fox Tower. Walter was with TMT until his passing in 2005, only a few years after Fox Tower was completed.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Buchalter to Fox Tower. Downtown Portland is starting to feel a little more like home again, and we appreciate Buchalter’s long-term commitment to the downtown we all love,” added Vanessa Sturgeon, President and CEO of TMT Development.

Cayla Wardenburg, Vice President at Jones Lang LaSalle Brokerage, Inc. added, “we are confident we found the perfect fit for the Buchalter team in Fox Tower. Relocating within the urban core can provide a great deal of opportunity in the current moment through both improving economics and aligning space to fit all your business needs. Buchalter’s move follows the ‘flight to quality’ theme we’ve been seeing from many relocations, a move that draws people to the office with high-quality space, great amenities, and access to parking.”