Harriet Tabb has worked in the area of retail and mixed-use development for nearly 30 years. Almost all of her new clients have hired her after being across the table from her, the greatest compliment any lawyer can receive. They like her extensive knowledge and experience and her reputation as being “tough, but fair.” They also appreciate her familiarity with non-legal issues that arise in retail and mixed-use development.
With broad knowledge and experience at the intersection of retail, mixed-use, real estate, and law, Harriet’s work creates enormous value for her clients. Unlike many lawyers, she is able to give development planning help that saves money and misery. In fact, many property/shopping center management and owner-developers prefer to hire her early in a project so that she can provide smart and proactive counsel. Her lease negotiations result in clearly-written leases that both protect her client and help make the landlord and tenant relationship run smoothly. And her planning and drafting can save money. She saved one client more than $100,000 in late-delivery fees based on her well-written force majeure clause (if you can believe it) and another client much more than that by recommending a specific way to structure loan documentation.
She has represented commercial landlords of both established and new shopping centers and mixed-use developments. She generally handles her projects alone or with one associate and a paralegal. In the retail sector, Harriet observes that business is coming back strong, having weathered the 2008 downturn, lingering concerns about consumer confidence, and retailer fears concerning competition from on-line sales.
In 2014, Harriet was elected as a fellow in the American College of Real Estate Lawyers (ACREL), the premier organization of real estate practitioners in the United States. Selection for ACREL is based on peer nominations followed by a rigorous screening process to identify lawyers with strong practices, positive reputations, and a demonstrated commitment to improving the practice of real estate law. In addition, Harriet is an adjunct professor at SMU Dedman School of Law, where she teaches “Real Estate Transactions” with Susan Mills Cipione, also at MCS.
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