LaVon M. Johns

LaVon M. Johns has solidified a reputation as go-to commercial real estate and transactions counsel for the nation’s most significant public/private partnership and nonprofit transactions. As Partner and Business Transactions Practice Team Leader at Riley Safer Holmes & Cancila, LaVon guides a team of attorneys responsible for the commercial transactions, including real estate, finance, corporate, and supply chain. She has been counsel to acquisitions, dispositions, and financing for some of the most recognizable real estate and infrastructure projects in the U.S. A LEED-certified attorney, LaVon is a highly sought dealmaker and lead counsel for multibillion-dollar projects like the Skyway Toll Bridge and the proposed privatization of Midway Airport.

Throughout her career, LaVon has received numerous accolades for her impressive professional achievements as well as her dedication to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the legal profession. Most recently, she has been ranked and awarded Best Lawyers in America Real Estate Law 2025, Crain’s Notable Black Leaders 2024, ALM │ GlobeSt. Women of Influence Diversity Champion (2024), and Illinois Real Estate Journal Woman of the Year (2024).

LaVon serves as an adjunct professor at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law teaching commercial real estate law to the next generation of diverse law firm professionals. She is the immediate past president (2022) of the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education (IICLE).