James A. Crolle III

James Crolle is a partner in the firm’s Real Estate Industry group. As a private equity real estate transactions lawyer, Mr. Crolle has over 20 years of combined experience at international law firms, senior in-house positions at NYSE-listed companies, and most recently at one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds. He is admitted to practice in Washington D.C. and New York and spends substantial time between both offices. 

Private Equity Real Estate

Mr. Crolle regularly advises private investment fund, institutional capital, family office and sovereign wealth fund clients on highly complex real estate transactions and finance matters throughout the world, with a particular focus on hospitality and in-bound investments in North America.  He has extensive experience advising on all stages of the real estate life cycle – from entity formation and initial investment/capital deployment, through financing and asset management, to strategizing and executing exit options – related to direct ownership, co-investments and programmatic joint ventures, along with the concurrent acquisitions, dispositions, financings, leasing, asset management and hotel operations.

Hospitality, Leisure & Operational Real Estate

Mr. Crolle also represents clients spanning the hospitality industry, from large independent management companies to a wide array of owners, including public REITs, private equity firms, insurance and pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and other institutional investors on joint ventures, complex commercial contracts and operations related to hotels and other forms of operational real estate.  He has extensive experience negotiating hotel management, franchise, consulting/technical services, and lease agreements with major brands for big-box and luxury branded full-service hotels, as well as portfolios of limited-service hotels.  

Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs)  

Mr. Crolle’s experience in the Real Estate Department of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) as embedded legal counsel for both the Americas and Hospitality investment teams afford him a unique perspective in advising SWFs and similar foreign pension funds on in-bound investments and transactions by identifying and navigating issues of unique sensitivity to such entities, such as Section 892, OFAC, disclosures and confidentiality, and CFIUS. 

Prior to joining Goodwin, Mr. Crolle was most recently Senior Transaction Manager in the Real Estate Department of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) — one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds, and the largest global institutional real estate investor.  Before that, Mr. Crolle was a lawyer with Sandman Savrann PLLC, held senior in-house positions at two NYSE-listed companies, and worked as an associate at two international law firms.  In all of these positions, he provided clients with strategic solutions on a wide range of legal issues, including acquisitions, joint ventures, commercial real estate transactions and financing, complex commercial contracts, hotel operations and development.