Phil Horowitz, Venable

DC has the best lawyers in the country (we're not biased at all). To highlight some of the city's best commercial real estate attorneys, we applied extensive use of statistics and the scientific method and bring you our latest installment of the legal minds that help DC's real estate industry thrive. (Check out Part 1 and Part 2.)

Phil takes on complex transactions such as the development and leasing of two buildings for the 1M SF SEC HQ at Station Place, which took negotiations with Union Station, GSA, and Amtrak. (It also included an easement for an airbridge to Union Station that ended up opening into the McDonald's--which they later arranged to shift.) And for the leasing and purchase of 1225 Connecticut Ave for the World Bank, a client of 25 years. We snapped Phil with one of the many shovels he's gotten from groundbreakings. He grew up on NY's Upper West Side and moved to DC to attend Georgetown Law; now he reps owners, developers and institutional users in purchases, sales, leasing and ground-up development. Another component of his practice is generational succession planning, with families like that of real estate developer Shelton Zuckerman, whom Phil's known 40 years. Shelton, with Abe Pollin and Douglas Jemal, bought and restored the historic Sixth & I Synagogue to save it from being turned into a nightclub; Phil does pro bono work for the synagogue and is on its board. If he's not in this office, you can probably find him at vacation homes in Martha's Vineyard and Naples, from where he always stays connected. Best lesson: Help people out, because favors come back in unexpected ways.