Joseph “Joe” R. Marek

Understanding a business from the inside, and being able to offer concise and practical legal counsel, is critical. Prior to returning to private practice, I spent twelve years serving as in-house legal counsel to businesses headquartered in the Charlotte area, which included being an executive. I leverage these years of in-house legal and executive experience to deliver concise and practical legal and business counsel to clients to help effectively and efficiently solve problems and accomplish objectives.

Joe Marek is a transactional attorney with experience in all aspects of commercial real estate and with a practice that focuses on leasing commercial property, acquisition and development of real property, and commercial contracting. He has over fifteen years of legal experience, which includes being an executive and in-house counsel for a quick-serve restaurant brand operating more than 700 company and franchised locations, and being in-house counsel for a variety store chain operating more than 6,000 locations. Joe has been directly involved with the successful acquisition, development and opening of over 200 free-standing and in-line retail locations, which has included working closely with real estate and construction teams to assist in transaction structuring and documentation, due diligence and permitting. His experience also includes drafting and negotiating complex and technical contracts relating to construction, supply, services, agency, product formulation, distribution, sponsorship, intellectual property licensing, confidentiality, software licensing, naming rights, equipment leasing and equipment purchasing. A cornerstone of Joe’s practice is commercial leasing. Joe has been involved in the drafting and negotiating of hundreds of leases, including ground leases, building leases, gross leases, net leases, and build-to-suit leases (and the many variations of each). He has drafted and negotiated leases for uses relating to office, industrial, warehouse and retail (including freestanding leases and leases for in-line space and outparcel space within shopping centers and mixed-use developments).