Honors and Awards

Ed West is an accomplished real estate and general business attorney with significant regional and national transactional expertise. 

He has practiced for more than 35 years in the areas of commercial leasing and property management, acquisitions and dispositions, real estate development, finance, construction, and other commercial real estate-related transactions, general business and estate matters, environmental remediation, and real estate-related arbitration.

He represents a wide variety of commercial tenants, landlords, developers, landowners, businesses, lenders, borrowers, trade associations, and other not-for-profit organizations, and individuals. He does not handle residential real estate matters such as evictions or collection actions.

He is admitted to practice in Maryland, the District of Columbia, Virginia, and Pennsylvania.

A former Co-Chair of the D.C. Bar's Real Estate Section and frequent panelist for its CLE programs, Mr. West has been selected numerous times by his peers as a "Super Lawyer" in Washington, D.C., and Maryland in Real Estate Law, a "Best Lawyer in America" for Washington, D.C. and Maryland Real Estate Law; a U.S. News and World Report "Best Lawyer" in Metropolitan Washington, D.C. for Real Estate Law; a Legal 500 Recommended U.S. Real Estate Lawyer for D.C. Transactions and Finance; and has earned an A.V. Preeminent 5.0 Peer Review rating from Martindale-Hubbell (the highest possible ranking) for more than 25 consecutive years.

During his career, he has negotiated nearly 18 million square feet of leases for office, retail, and industrial properties, special use projects, and over 100 ground leases, and handled a wide variety of property management, general business, and estate issues. He has also worked with a wide variety of regional, national, and international clients in the development, acquisition, or sale of more than $5 billion in commercial properties, including mixed-use developments and public-private partnerships, and local clients in the sale of their businesses and assets. Mr. West has represented borrowers, lenders, and investors in more than $18.5 billion of financings, equity investments, workouts, and foreclosures. He also has substantial experience with the structuring of LLCs and joint ventures and the resolution of real estate disputes. Mr. West has also negotiated design and construction contracts for numerous office buildings, special-use facilities, and interior buildouts in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.

He has worked on high-profile leases/sale-leasebacks, financings, development and design/construction projects (including public-private partnerships), acquisitions and dispositions, and environmental remediation matters for Bank of America, Citicorp, Wells Fargo, the National Football League, JBG, Pepco, Lockheed Martin, WMATA, the District of Columbia Government (including the Nationals Ballpark stadium lease, design/construction contract, and its bond financing negotiations for the Nationals Ballpark on city-owned land and its highly successful $225 million City Vista mixed-use public/private partnership development), J. Crew, Lowe Enterprises, Abbot Labs, Goodyear, Sunoco, AstraZeneca, Novartis, the Communications Workers of America, The Peebles Corporation, RREEF Management, and Eagle Bank among others, and served as an arbitrator in ground leasing and shopping center development disputes with an aggregate value at the issue of over $100 million.

Prior to opening his own real estate and general business practice in 2016, Mr. West was Co-Manager of the Real Estate Practice Group at the multi-national law firm of Covington & Burling (during which time he worked closely with the head of its trusts and estate practice), Senior Counsel at Cushman & Wakefield, Chair of the Real Estate Practice Group at Beveridge & Diamond, and an attorney with Jones Day. He previously served for six years as Associate General Counsel and Vice President at The Kaempfer Company (a prominent D.C.-area developer that developed and managed 2.5 million SF of Class A office space and a high-end luxury hotel before being acquired by Vornado REIT). Prior to law school, he worked as an accountant for Price Waterhouse (now PricewaterhouseCoopers) in New York City for several years.

​​​​​He received his J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center, where he was the Articles & Notes Editor of its American Criminal Law Review and a research assistant for a nationally renowned tax law professor. After receiving his B.A. in Economics and Political Science from Yale University, he attended Cornell University's Business School, after which he joined Price Waterhouse.

"When roadblocks get thrown up, Mr. West knocks them down …he is 'the first lawyer that [client name redacted] has seen that really impressed its business team for his ability to negotiate and present the facts, while retaining the trust and respect of all parties." 

— Fortune 100 Client - - Legal 500 Directory (2008-09)

"Having worked with dozens of different transactional, land-use, regulatory and finance counsel over the years, I can state that Ed West is at the top of my list as an exceptional real estate attorney. Ed completed many complex lease, ground-lease and financing assignments for me when I was at both a publicly-held company and a national private equity/development firm. He was able to provide great deal of clarity, risk mitigation and speed in completing the legal work. The transactions involved large investments with institutional-caliber participants. Ed is extremely responsive, personable and highly respected in top flight real estate circles. He is also a pleasure to work with. He has both a diplomatic style and great efficiency of billing time -- sometimes a rare combination in legal circles." — Former partner, national private equity/development firm (now Senior Vice President for private REIT with 10 million square feet of properties in 20 markets)

"Ed West has worked for me for over 25 years on office buildings, industrial properties, and multi-family properties. During that time, he negotiated leases with both private and public sector tenants, directed environmental remediation, and managed acquisitions and sales. I have been completely comfortable knowing Ed was protecting my interests and negotiating on my behalf. He was also completely fair as relates to billing, always being sure I did not overpay for services. I would absolutely recommend Ed for any real estate transaction."

— Former President, major Washington, D.C. real estate developer

"In handling our matter, Ed was extremely thorough and proactive, taking the time to explain the intricacies of our lease and pointing out possible implications of different scenarios. Most importantly, his meticulous review, expert editing, and successful negotiations with the landlord and its broker were extremely beneficial in protecting the interests of our company. We learned a great deal, and are very grateful for his patience, dedication and attention to detail."

— Sherry Rockey, President, EnCompass LLC

"I am a partner in the real estate group of the national law firm of Arent Fox in Washington, D.C. and I enthusiastically endorse Ed West. I have known Ed for more than 25 years and have worked with him on many leases over the years - on the opposite side of the table. Ed is very bright and knowledgeable and is a "lawyer's lawyer," with deep experience in representing landlords and tenants in commercial lease transactions. He is a consummate professional who looks for creative ways to solve problems to accomplish his clients' goals." 

— Jeremy B. Fox, Partner, Senior Partner, Arent Fox

Pro Bono Representations

Mr. West also served as the General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, and as member of the Board of Directors, of Rebuilding Together of Washington, D.C., Inc. (formerly known as "Christmas-in April") from 2000 – 2008. Rebuilding Together provides free home renovations for low-income homeowners, especially elderly, disabled, and families with children. Since 1983, its 4,000 local volunteers have repaired and renovated over 2,700 homes in Washington, D.C.'s neediest neighborhoods.

From 2000 – 2008, he also represented the Washington Tennis & Education Foundation in all real estate matters related to its operation of the Wm. H.G. FitzGerald Carter Barron Tennis Center in Rock Creek National Park, 16th and Kennedy Sts., N.W. in Washington, D.C. and its negotiation of a long term ground lease for the operation of a second tennis center in Washington, D.C.

From 2000 – 2003, he advised the Latin American Youth Center in its leasing and rehabilitation of retail space adjacent to the Avalon Theatre in Chevy Chase, D.C. that enabled it to open a Ben & Jerry's "PartnerShop."