May 6, 2026 – Seyfarth Shaw LLP continues to expand its real estate offerings and transactional New York practices with Megan Vallerie rejoining the firm as a partner in New York.
Vallerie had previously been with Seyfarth from 2016 to 2022, the last three as a partner in the Real Estate department. She is the 16th lawyer to return to Seyfarth since the beginning of 2025 and the fifth “boomerang” to do so already in 2026. She spent the intervening years as a partner at McDermott.
Vallerie focuses her practice on complex commercial real estate transactions, where she offers extensive experience representing lenders, borrowers and institutional investors in the acquisition, development, financing, and disposition of commercial real estate as well as the origination and restructuring of mortgage, mezzanine, bridge, and construction financings. She also provides strong experience with inter-creditor arrangements and preferred equity transactions.
“Megan’s return deepens our real estate team in New York and across the firm,” said Paul Mattingly, national chair of Seyfarth’s Real Estate department. “She’s an outstanding real estate attorney with a proven record of leading highly structured and sophisticated transactions for institutional clients. Having worked with her before, we know just how well she fits with our Real Estate group and the depth of experience she brings on both the debt and equity side of deals.”
Vallerie represents capital markets and balance sheet lenders including commercial banks, life insurance companies, debt funds, and other sources of private capital in the origination, restructuring, participation, purchase, and sale of commercial real estate loans.
On the equity side, she represents institutional investors, family offices, developers and operators in the acquisition, disposition, financing, leasing, and development of all types of commercial properties. Her practice also includes representing clients making indirect investments in commercial real estate through joint venture and preferred equity arrangements.
“Megan brings deep transactional experience on high‑stakes real estate deals,” said John Napoli and Marc Gurell, co-managing partners of Seyfarth’s New York office. “Having her on board allows us to expand the work we do with both existing and new clients across the capital stack.”
Before joining Seyfarth the first time, Megan worked in-house at FirstKey Lending, LLC in a transaction management role. At the Cerberus portfolio company, she was responsible for negotiating, structuring, and closing fixed and floating rate loans for CLO and balance sheet execution while working closely with the originations, credit, capital markets, and asset management teams, both prior to and following closings.
“I have maintained strong relationships with my colleagues at Seyfarth over the years while I was gone, staying closely connected through alumni events and have been across the table from them on several deals,” said Vallerie. “Returning to the firm feels like a natural and strategic next step—one that offers the right platform for me to grow and expand my practice while being part of the truly collaborative culture that originally drew me to Seyfarth.”
Vallerie earned her JD from Fordham University School of Law and her BA from UCLA. She frequently moderates panels on commercial real estate finance for Commercial Observer.
About Seyfarth’s Real Estate Department
Seyfarth’s world-class real estate team serves sophisticated clients across a number of industries. Recognized as one of the largest real estate practices in the US, we have built an integrated team that serves local, regional, and national clients on the acquisition, financing, development, leasing, restructuring, servicing, and disposition of noteworthy real estate assets and portfolios. This experience extends across comprehensive array of asset classes, including office, industrial, multifamily, retail, health care, and data center projects. We leverage our size and depth to partner with clients and to invest in material enhancements in how commercial real estate law is practiced.
Seyfarth’s New York office is home to approximately 150 attorneys who provide tailored, business focused counsel across a broad scope of litigation and transactional matters, including financial services, labor and employment, real estate, tax, and more. Our lawyers draw on deep experience advising some of the world’s most sophisticated businesses, paired with strong knowledge of local law and market dynamics and innovative approaches, to serve as strategic partners to regional, national, and global clients, among them many Fortune 500 companies and leading financial institutions across a wide range of key industries.
About Seyfarth Shaw LLP
With approximately 1,000 lawyers across 17 offices, Seyfarth Shaw LLP provides advisory, litigation, and transactional legal services to clients worldwide. The firm has gained widespread recognition for its innovative approach to delivering legal services, combining deep industry knowledge with advanced technology and substantive excellence.
“With approximately 900 lawyers across 17 offices, Seyfarth Shaw LLP provides advisory, litigation, and transactional legal services to clients worldwide.”
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