“What I do, is give high-level counsel to people about their business. So to do that, I need to understand their business; to do that I need to understand what’s important to them - what drives them emotionally, financially, and spiritually.”

Joe practices in the areas of corporate finance, secured lending, general corporate law, and commercial real estate.

Representative Transactions History (Partial)

• Closed $250 million refinancing of hotel portfolio.
• Negotiated joint venture for international branding company and U.S. hotel developer.
• Restructured retail lease portfolio for national retailer.
• Advised international facilities company on settlement of $500 million freight dispute with common carrier.
• Closed ESOP purchase and refinancing of founder’s shares in electrical contracting company.

“When your law firm is organized by specialties and you have to transfer a client from one lawyer to another, you can lose the overall understanding of the client’s mission. But if you have lawyers with a breadth of knowledge and experience, you don’t have to do that.”

“A client with a large wholesale and retail business came to us recently because the viability of his business was in question. We analyzed his financial statements and saw that the lease at one of his facilities was causing great economic strain. So because I do commercial real estate and knew the institutional landlord and their lawyer, I moved from corporate to real estate analysis and negotiated an early termination of his lease. Our client walked away, the landlord got the space returned on a prudent basis, and our client saved his business.”

As a Georgia real estate attorney, Joe represents secured lenders, private and public developers and owners of office, industrial, multi-family and hotel projects.

Through his corporate practice, Mr. Foltz represents publicly regulated and closely held businesses in financial services, publishing, high technology, international trade and entertainment issues.

He received his undergraduate degree from Yale University, cum laude, before acquiring his law degree from Vanderbilt University, with honors.

While at Vanderbilt, Joe was associate editor of the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law and published a note on the security implications of multi-bank loan syndications. He also received a Moot Court Outstanding Oralist Award.

Mr. Foltz has spoken and lectured on corporate governance and joint venture negotiations and has published articles on Georgia leasing law. As a French speaker, he maintains a liaison with a commercial law firm in France. As a corporate lawyer and Georgia real estate attorney, Joe has been advising clients for almost three decades.