LaVon M. Johns

LaVon M. Johns, Partner in Charge of the Chicago office, specializes in commercial real estate transactions and privatization, including multibillion-dollar acquisitions and dispositions, development, financing, and complex commercial leasing throughout the U.S.

Ms. Johns has been named to the Illinois Super Lawyers list in 2006, 2008, 2011-2015.  She has been named one of the 100 Top Women in Real Estate by the Illinois Real Estate Journal for the past three years. Ms. Johns is listed in the 2010 and 2011 editions of The Best Lawyers in America – the definitive guide to legal excellence in the United States. She has also been selected in 2011, 2012, and 2015 as a Leading Lawyer by the Leading Lawyers Network. Ms. Johns is a Chicago United Leaders Council Member and was selected to serve on the 2015 Business Leaders of Color Nominee Ranking Committee.

A 1996 graduate of Northwestern University School of Law, she is a member of Board of Lambda Alpha International, Ely Chapter. She attained the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Accredited Professional (LEED AP) accreditation issued by the U.S. Green Building Council. She is currently one of very few attorneys in Illinois to attain this designation.

Ms. Johns currently serves as an Adjunct Professor teaching commercial real estate transactions at the Northwestern University School of Law, is a lecturer at the National Business Institute, and has participated as presenter or panelist for such organizations as the ABA, Chicago Urban League, and Lambda Alpha International. She served as the General Editor of the 2008 Practice Handbook (as supplemented in 2010), published by IICLE entitled Real Estate Litigation, where she authored Chapter 11, entitled “Real Estate Broker Litigation.” In 2013, she acted as General Editor of the 2013 version of this same IICLE Practice Handbook and authored Chapter 11.