Seyfarth Continues Aggressive National Growth by Adding Transactional Team of at Least 22 Attorneys

Seyfarth Shaw LLP today announced the addition of a transactional team of at least 22 attorneys, including 11 partners, significantly expanding the firm’s market-leading capabilities areas across its Corporate, Employee Benefits, and Real Estate practices and bolstering the firm’s Southeast presence in Atlanta and Charlotte.

The move also extends Seyfarth’s reach in the areas of private equity investments and fund formation. The additions enhance Seyfarth’s hospitality and leisure industry capabilities, reflecting the firm’s focus on this important industry. With the acquisition of this team of at least 22 attorneys, Seyfarth is realizing its strategy of continued aggressive growth in key markets and practices.

The additions strengthen the scope and scale of Seyfarth’s nationally recognized Real Estate, Corporate, and Employee Benefits departments. Seyfarth’s Real Estate group is one of the five largest commercial real estate practices in the United States and one of the top commercial real estate practices in the Atlanta market. The Employee Benefits practice has earned a reputation as one of the most significant in the country while the full-service Corporate practice is regarded as an industry leader.

The group is led by Corporate partner Matt Peurach, Real Estate partners Justin Barry and Tom Gryboski, and Employee Benefits partner Ed Emerson. They are joined by seven additional partners across these practice areas: Corporate partners Bradford Lenox, Matthew Flower, and Lili Martin-Mashburn; Real Estate partners Brian Butler, Catherine Morgen; and Quinten Wilson; and Employee Benefits partner Caroline Dorsey.

With these additions, Seyfarth’s Southeast presence grows to nearly 130 attorneys. All attorneys join Seyfarth from Morris, Manning & Martin LLP, where Peurach was chair of the firm’s Corporate and Tax practices, and Emerson led its Employment and Employee Benefits practices.

Gryboski headed Morris Manning’s Hospitality practice and brings his team with him to Seyfarth. The group features a deep focus on the hospitality industry, where Seyfarth already has deep multi-disciplinary expertise. Gryboski and the team have represented hundreds of operators and owners across the hospitality and leisure sector, including hotels, resorts, restaurants, management companies, gaming and racing establishments, and real estate investment entities.

“We have in recent years accelerated our acquisition of high-performing teams that enhance our capabilities for our clients, while at the same time maintaining our culture and high quality practices,” said Lorie Almon, Seyfarth’s chair and managing partner. “We have become a destination for top tier talent, like this group. Its arrival deepens our strength in key sectors including middle market corporate, hospitality, real estate private equity, fund formation and tax, and augments our continued national growth and expansion of our transactional practices.”

The move follows a year in which Seyfarth grew its profits per partner by 12%, driven in part by strategic lateral acquisitions and strong demand. Seyfarth continues to attract high-level talent. The firm has added 36 lateral partners since the beginning of 2024, with 19 in 2025 alone.

Since establishing its Atlanta office in 1996 and expanding into Charlotte in 2019, Seyfarth has steadily built a full-service platform across the Southeast. With this addition, Seyfarth continues to build on its momentum in the region, reinforcing its position as a go-to firm for complex, cross-disciplinary legal needs.

Additional Quotes:

Andrew Lucano, Chair of Seyfarth’s Corporate department and co-chair of the Mergers & Acquisitions practice: “This is an exciting moment of growth for our Corporate department and other transactional practices. This team of top Corporate attorneys brings a depth of experience, market insight, and track record of excellence which will immediately enhance our capabilities and help us continue to deliver outstanding results for our clients.”

Paul Mattingly, Chair of Seyfarth’s Real Estate department: “This team brings exceptional experience across real estate, hospitality, private equity, and employee benefits. Their addition reflects growing client demand for the types of sophisticated business and legal solutions our talented teams deliver and enhances what is already one of the most active and respected real estate practices in the legal industry.”

Diane Dygert, Chair of Seyfarth's Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation department:

“The addition of these highly experienced attorneys marks a significant step forward for our Employee Benefits practice. Their deep knowledge of the complex regulatory landscape, combined with their practical and business-focused approach, will be a tremendous asset to our clients.”

Steve Kennedy, Atlanta Office Managing Partner and co-head of the Real Estate Development practice group: “We are thrilled to welcome this best-in-class group of attorneys to our Atlanta and North Carolina offices. Their talent, deep experience, and commitment to client service will significantly strengthen our capabilities in key practice areas. Just as importantly, they share our values and collaborative culture, making them a perfect fit as we continue to grow and invest in this market.”

Thomas Gryboski: “The firm’s strong national platform, deep bench of real estate and corporate talent, and collaborative culture make it an ideal fit. Seyfarth stood out for its forward-thinking approach, strong national platform, and deep commitment to client service. It’s the right environment for us to elevate and expand our practices while continuing to provide strategic, creative solutions for our clients.”

Matthew Peurach: “All of us were interested in thoughtfully finding the right home for our entire team. We were looking for a firm that shares our values, supports sophisticated, collaborative work, and prioritizes long-term relationships with clients. Seyfarth’s culture and strategic vision really spoke to us. It’s a place where we can continue to grow, contribute meaningfully, and deliver across every stage of a deal.”

Meet the New Partners

Justin Barry comes to the firm as a senior real estate partner recognized for his work advising institutional investors, lenders, sponsors and developers in high-value commercial transactions, with extensive experience representing banks, financial institutions, private debt funds and private equity clients on a wide range of transactions, including development and construction loans, acquisitions, sales, and development deals, joint ventures, and syndicated loan facilities – particularly in the hospitality, automotive, and homebuilder industries. He also handles a large variety of office, industrial and retail leases for both landlords and tenants across the country.

Thomas Gryboski brings a national practice representing hospitality owners, operators, and developers in transactions involving the acquisition, financing, and development of hotel and resort properties. His clients include private equity sponsors and funds, real estate entrepreneurs, hotel operating companies and some smaller organizations seeking growth. He is consistently recognized as one of the leading business, real estate, and hospitality lawyers in the US.

Matthew Peurach, who chaired Morris Manning’s Corporate, Tax, and Opportunity Zones practices, concentrates on structuring complex commercial real estate transactions, including private equity funds and other joint venture vehicles targeting real estate assets. He regularly advises clients on tax issues associated with real estate and other corporate transactions as a core component of his real estate private equity practice. Peurach is frequently recognized for his transactional achievements.

Edmund Emerson III is a nationally recognized employee benefits and executive compensation attorney who served as Chair of Morris Manning’s Employment and Employee Benefits Practice Groups. He advises public and private employers on complex benefits and executive compensation matters, fiduciary governance, and plan compliance. Emerson also represents governmental employers and committees overseeing governmental plans and has extensive experience addressing the specialized needs of governmental plans.

G. Brian Butler counsels clients in a wide range of hospitality-related real estate matters, including acquisitions, development transactions, financings, dispositions, management agreements, franchise matters, and public/private and private joint ventures. He has deep experience working with business, leisure, resort, and extended-stay properties.

Lili Martin-Mashburn has a comprehensive background in structuring and consummating commercial real estate transactions, such as private equity funds and other joint venture arrangements. She specializes in negotiating and drafting operating agreements, limited partnership agreements, and documenting equity investments in real estate, including private placements. Martin-Mashburn devotes much of her practice to partnership tax, private fund formations, 1031 exchanges, qualified opportunity funds, and corporate transparency act compliance.

Catherine Morgen represents real estate clients, with an emphasis on the hospitality industry. She provides significant experience representing developers, owners, and managers of hotel properties in acquisitions, dispositions, and mergers, developing properties, negotiating hotel management and franchise agreements, construction and permanent financing, and leasing. Morgen has been ranked among the top in the country for Leisure & Hospitality law. 

Quinten Wilson provides extensive experience handling commercial real estate transactions, representing financial institutions, including banks and private equity funds. His practice includes structuring, negotiating, and executing construction loans, permanent loans, bridge loans, mezzanine loans and preferred equity investments involving real estate projects across a variety of asset classes.

Matthew Flower advises clients in a broad range of transactional matters within the leisure and hospitality sectors. He collaborates with them on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, reorganizations, private securities offerings, fund formations, strategic investments, and general corporate matters. Flower additionally has an extensive background in finance transactions, such as asset-backed loans and securitization transactions.

Bradford Lenox advises clients on all aspects of real estate fund formation and related matters, such as real estate club deals, real estate programmatic joint ventures, and other joint ventures He also helps form and take public both listed and unlisted REITs, representing both issuers and underwriters, and works with venture capital funds and venture capital-backed companies.

Caroline Dorsey advises governmental and private sector employers on state and federal regulatory requirements impacting the design, implementation and ongoing compliance of employee benefit plans and programs. She counsels them on plan administration and fiduciary responsibilities which include correcting operational failures, conducting due diligence, and analyzing potential liabilities and risks associated with M&A transactions.

Seyfarth’s Real Estate department is recognized as one of the largest real estate practices in the US, counseling clients on a local, regional, or national basis. The team services sophisticated clients across a number of industries in each of the largest money center markets across the country. Seyfarth uses its size and depth to partner with clients and to invest in material enhancements in how commercial real estate law is practiced.

Seyfarth’s Corporate department offers clients a full-service, multidisciplinary team of attorneys across virtually all areas of practice. The corporate group works with an array of businesses from large well-known companies to aggressive start-ups and is highly regarded for its deep knowledge of mergers and acquisitions, securities, investment management, corporate counseling, financing, and commercial transactions.

Seyfarth’s Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation department supports clients with every aspect of their employee benefits needs—from designing, drafting, and implementing plans and agreements to counseling on operational compliance and fiduciary issues. Clients vary in size from mid-sized private companies to Fortune-ranked corporations in key industry sectors such as health care, consumer products, higher education, manufacturing, retail, transportation, and environmental services, as well as boards of trustees of large multiemployer funds.

Seyfarth’s Hospitality & Leisure group represents hundreds of operators and owners in all sectors of the hospitality and leisure industry, including hotels and hotel chains, resorts, restaurants, hotel management companies, gaming and racing establishments, clubs and golf courses, sports teams, and hotel property owners, such as REITs, pension funds and private equity funds. The multi-disciplinary team of lawyers, backed by a global footprint, meets the full-cycle needs of hospitality and leisure clients and provides strategic services designed to help alleviate potential legal threats and maximize growth.

About Seyfarth

With more than 950 lawyers across 18 offices, Seyfarth Shaw LLP provides top tier advisory, litigation, and transactional legal services to clients worldwide.