Overview
David A. Lum is a Principal at McCarthy Lebit. His clients have come to rely upon him as their outside general counsel – becoming the first call they make when they have a legal issue or need advice. In this capacity, David handles all of their legal needs, from entity formation and contract negotiation to buy-sell agreements, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, real estate, resolving employment issues, and litigation management.
As a part of getting to know each client, David invests his own time in learning their individual business. This knowledge helps him provide effective and efficient advice and counsel and be a valuable contributor to the company’s mission, strategic objectives and his ability to quickly resolve day-to-day legal issues.
David recognizes that business owners and executives want to contain legal costs, ideally spending only on projects that preserve or enhance company value. Thus, his approach focuses on preventing problems before they arise and mitigating cost and exposure when legal problems do arise.
He has extensive experience in all aspects of the corporate real estate life cycle, including acquisition, development, leasing, financing, divestiture, condemnation and property tax contests. David has worked extensively with retail real estate – representing a national retailer in leasing, development and roll out of over 100 free standing retail stores nationwide and another national retailer in the divestiture of hundreds of facilities throughout the Midwest. He also assists his manufacturing and service business clients in maximizing their investment in real estate – negotiating new office leases, developing new facilities, facilitating sale-leaseback transactions and completing structured finance transactions. He also has extensive experience in the real estate aspects of M&A transactions.
Awards
- The Best Lawyers in America©, 2013-2024
- Ohio Super Lawyers®, 2022-2024
- Ohio Super Lawyers® Rising Star, 2005-2009
Articles
- "7 Reasons Why Every Small Business Should Have Outside General Counsel," McCarthy Lebit's The More Report, February 2024
- "Infrastructure Restructure," Best Lawyers, The Real Estate & Infrastructure Issue, January 2023
- "Doing Business in a Rapidly Changing World: Real Estate," IR Global’s Global Guide for In-House Counsel: Doing Business in a Rapidly Changing World, IR Global, January 2023
- "Can You Use PPP Loan Proceeds to Pay Your Rent or Mortgage?," Crain's Cleveland Business, May 2020
- "Don't Be Surprised - QOZs Are Not Like Traditional Real Estate Investments," McCarthy Lebit's The More Report, March 2020
- "There's Gold in Them Thar Brownfields!," Crain's Cleveland Business, October 2019
- "A Package Deal - What To Do When The Sale of Your Business and Real Estate Are Separate," Smart Business News Magazine, December 2015
Presentations
- Building/Renovating Your Dream Home: Pitfalls of Residential Construction Contracts, Women in Law, Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association, June 2021
Practice Area(s)
Education
Admissions
Supreme Court of the United States
U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio
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