Overview In this role you will serve as a senior legal partner across the full lifecycle of Hillwood's industrial real estate projects, from acquisition and entitlement to development, financing, leasing, and disposition. You will work closely with development, investments, finance, and operations to balance legal risk with business objectives, delivering practical, transaction-focused counsel. You will lead complex matters independently, driving each workstream to completion with a strong emphasis on AI-enabled workflows. You'll shape the department's responsible AI adoption to supportHillwood's growth and operational efficiency.
Responsibilities- Draft and negotiate core real estate documents (purchase/sale, joint venture, operating agreements, leases, easements, licenses, development agreements)
- Coordinate due diligence, title/survey review, and closing processes across internal and external stakeholders
- Structure transactions to balance legal risk with business objectives
- Manage outside counsel, title companies, and consultants to ensure timely, accurate delivery
- Provide legal guidance throughout development lifecycle from site acquisition to sale
- Negotiate and advise on joint ventures, governance, capital contributions, and exit strategies
- Assist with municipal utility district agreements and other public-private development agreements
- Support debt and equity financing transactions, including loan documents and closings
- Collaborate with project teams to enable project execution and process improvements
- Lead AI-enabled legal workflows to improve research, drafting, due diligence, and document automation
Key requirements- Extensive experience with industrial real estate transactions (acquisition, entitlement, development, leasing, disposition)
- Exceptional drafting, negotiation, and problem-solving abilities
- Ability to balance legal risk with business objectives and provide strategic advice
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills and cross-functional collaboration
- Highly organized with strong attention to detail and multi-transaction management
- Sound judgment, integrity, and discretion
- Self-starter with ownership mindset and accountability
- Collaborative, client-service orientation with practical legal solutions
- Proven experience using AI to enhance legal work and workflows (not just casual use)
- Juris Doctor and active Texas license or ability to obtain promptly
- 5-10 years of relevant experience in top law firms, corporate legal departments, or real estate developers
- proactive
- client-service oriented
- relationship builder
- AI-enabled workflows for legal research, drafting, due diligence, and transaction management
- contract lifecycle management
- knowledge management
