Ellen B. Friedler

Founding Partner/Managing Partner

Ellen B. Friedler concentrates her practice on commercial leasing transactions and related property management matters. For more than 30 years, she has focused on retail and office leasing and related matters, representing landlords and tenants. Ellen has extensive experience representing landlords with national lease portfolios, national retail tenants and office tenants. She has worked on major leasing transactions involving regional shopping centers, life-style centers, office buildings and mixed-use properties.

Ellen has developed significant relationships within the commercial leasing community on both the legal and business sides. These relationships allow her to assist her clients in establishing and maintaining positive landlord/tenant relationships throughout the leasing process and beyond. Ellen has also developed an extensive catalog of leasing forms and language that permits the commercial leasing group to streamline the lease negotiation and drafting process. She is also a contributing author to a lease negotiation handbook and has been a frequent speaker at retail industry events, including ICSC and PLI.

Prior to founding Strategic Leasing Law Group, Ellen was a Partner at Neal Gerber Eisenberg and the chair of the commercial leasing practice group, where she focused on commercial leasing transactions, as well as assembling and training a group of highly experienced legal professionals in the commercial leasing specialty. Ellen was also a Vice President and member of the Board of Directors of Rosenberg & Liebentritt, P.C., where she was the head of the firm’s retail leasing and telecommunications practices. Rosenberg & Liebentritt served as in-house lawyers for Sam Zell and various enterprises in which Mr. Zell had an interest. Prior to joining Rosenberg in 1990, she worked at Metropolitan Structures, a national office building developer, where she was a co-head of the office leasing group. Before Metropolitan Structures, she worked at Mayer, Brown & Platt, where she had a general commercial real estate practice.

Ellen is AV Peer Review Rated by the Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Ratings in both legal ability and ethical standards. She has also been selected by her peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America in Real Estate Law and was named as a 2017 Woman of Influence.

Education: Harvard Law School (J.D., 1983), University of Wisconsin – Madison (B.A., 1980)

Bar Admissions: Illinois, 1983.

Mary Kay McCreery

Partner

Mary Kay focuses her practice on all areas of commercial real estate law with a focus on shopping center development and retail leasing. She has extensive experience in leasing (both retail and office) as well as in real estate acquisitions, dispositions and development transactions. Mary Kay has broad experience drafting leases, REAs, purchase and sale agreements and other real estate agreements in connection with the development and redevelopment of enclosed, lifestyle and open air shopping centers located around the country.

Education: University of Notre Dame (J.D., magna cum laude, 1999), Marquette University (B.A., magna cum laude, 1996)

Bar Admissions: Illinois

Paralegal

Renee has extensive experience in commercial leasing, working alongside attorneys and paralegals for the past 20 years in the representation of landlords and tenants in both office and retail settings.  Renee’s responsibilities range from drafting office and retail leases, amendments and termination agreements, to brokerage agreements and estoppel certificates. In addition to her leasing work, Renee also has assisted in acquisitions of commercial properties where her duties included conducting due diligence reviews of leases to assist clients in evaluating and closing transactions.

Prior to joining Strategic Leasing Law Group, LLP, Renee was a legal secretary and then a legal assistant in the Commercial Real Estate Practice Group at Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg, where she worked with the attorneys and paralegals in preparing and finalizing commercial leasing transactions.

Renee received a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in 1992 from Rosary College (n/k/a Rosary College of Arts and Sciences at Dominican University).

Renee Shearer

Glen R. Cornblath

Founding Partner

Serving as a valued adviser, Glen provides his clients with legal advice that not only contributes to overcoming business challenges and increasing profitability but also aligns with larger business goals.

Over the last 30 years, Glen has developed significant experience in commercial leasing for retail, office, industrial, single-user and mixed-use properties nationwide. Representing both landlords and tenants gives Glen the perspective to generate solutions for clients and to create constructive, ongoing relationships between the parties.

When not advocating for his clients, Glen can be found participating in industry groups and educational programs related to his practice. He has led round table discussions at ICSC Law Conferences, spoken at leasing conferences and also wrote a column entitled “Creative Solutions” for ICSC’s Retail Law Strategist. In addition, he taught Real Estate Drafting as Adjunct Professor at IIT/Chicago Kent College of Law from 1995-2000. Glen is rated AV Preeminent by the Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Ratings. For many years, Glen has been identified by the Leading Lawyers Network as a “Leading Lawyer” in Real Estate and by Illinois Super Lawyers as a “Super Lawyer” in Real Estate. He has also been selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America in Real Estate Law.

Before founding Strategic Leasing Law Group, Glen was Senior Counsel at Neal Gerber & Eisenberg, LLP. He was a partner at Krasnow Saunders Cornblath Kaplan & Beninati, LLP in Chicago, and prior to that, at Sachnoff & Weaver, Ltd. (now Reed Smith). He began his practice in commercial real estate at Mayer, Brown & Platt.

Education: University of Pennsylvania Law School (J.D., 1983), cum laude, Order of the Coif. Northwestern University (B.A., 1980), with distinction, Phi Beta Kappa.

Bar Admissions: Illinois.

Senior Associate

Michelle has over ten years’ experience as a commercial real estate attorney. Michelle’s practice focuses on representing landlords and tenants in office and retail leases with an emphasis on negotiating and drafting leases, lease amendments, assignment agreements, relocation agreements, lease terminations, brokerage agreements and related documents.

In addition to her leasing work, Michelle also has extensive experience in finance transactions and has assisted in acquisitions of commercial properties by conducting due diligence and reviewing leases to assist clients in evaluating and finalizing transactions.

Prior to joining Strategic Leasing Law Group, LLP, Michelle worked as a real estate associate at Davis+Gilbert LLP and Clearly Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP.

Michelle received her JD, summa cum laude from New York Law School (2014) and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from New York University (2009).

Wendy L. Bendersky

Founding Partner

Wendy is a seasoned real estate attorney focusing exclusively on commercial leasing transactions. She represents both landlords and tenants in the drafting and negotiation of retail, office and industrial leases and related documents, such as lease guaranties, SNDAs, amendments and assignment agreements, for space in regional shopping centers, lifestyle centers, and mixed-used projects across the country. During her 22 years of practice, Wendy has developed significant relationships with many national retail tenants and their counsel which allows her to efficiently and effectively conclude lease transactions on behalf of landlords. However, her work on behalf of both landlords and tenants allows her to navigate both sides of any lease transaction to a successful conclusion for all parties involved.

Wendy is consistently able to finalize lease transactions while maintaining strong relationships with her clients and her counterparts. She has successfully completed leases on behalf of landlords with the following tenants: CVS, Men’s Wearhouse, Barnes & Noble, The Container Store, Trader Joe’s, Z Gallerie, lululemon athletica, True Foods Kitchen, Kiko Milano, Pinkberry, Five Below and Five Guys Burgers and Fries. She also successfully represents several national big box tenants in the preparation and negotiation of their leases and related documents for space across the country.

Before founding Strategic Leasing Law Group, Wendy was a partner at Neal, Gerber Eisenberg in the Commercial Leasing Group representing both landlords and tenants in a wide variety of leasing transactions for properties across the country. Wendy began her career as a general real estate attorney practicing in San Francisco, California, most recently with Coblentz, Patch, Duffy and Bass.

Education: George Washington University Law School (J.D., 1993), Northwestern University (B.A., 1989)

Bar Admissions: California, 1993. Illinois, 1999.

Dylan Lower

Senior Paralegal

Dylan has significant experience negotiating and drafting retail leases, lease amendments, assignment agreements, relocation agreements, lease terminations and related documents. In addition to his leasing work, Dylan also has assisted in commercial and residential real estate closings where his duties included reviewing title commitments, plats of survey, coordinating 1031 exchanges and generating and reviewing closing documents.

Prior to joining Strategic Leasing Law Group, LLP, Dylan worked as a paralegal at Pircher, Nicholas & Meeks where he focused his work in the area of commercial leasing transactions.

Dylan received a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts degree from DePaul University in 2000.

Stephanie S. Malayil

Partner

Stephanie is an experienced real estate attorney with over 20 years of commercial transactional experience providing legal counsel for one of the largest shopping center owners in the United States as well as in private practice. She was directly responsible for drafting, negotiating, and closing 100+ commercial leases annually, while simultaneously managing a high-volume lease administration department at Macerich (MAC NYSE). During her time in-house and in private practice Stephanie has gained extensive experience in the drafting and negotiation of retail (including restaurant and theater) and office leases. In addition, she has negotiated lease-related documents such as lease guaranties, letters of intent, SNDAs, memorandums of lease, lien subordination agreements, amendments and assignment agreements. She has a proven ability to get deals done in a timely, efficient, and professional manner while maintaining company/client directives and protocols. Stephanie has advised landlords on major and ground-up redevelopment matters as well as property management issues.

Education: The University of Tulsa College of Law (J.D., 1996), Michigan State University (B.A., 1993).

Bar Admissions: California, 2016. Arizona, 2015. Minnesota, 1997

Amy M. Pupino

Senior Paralegal

Amy has significant experience negotiating and drafting retail, office and industrial leases and lease amendments, as well as relocation agreements, termination agreements, landlord lien subordination agreements, data service provider access agreements, assignments, and related documents. In addition to her leasing work, Amy is a proven negotiator that has closed deals with a wide range of national, regional and small clients for properties across the country.

Prior to joining Strategic Leasing Law Group, LLP, Amy worked as a Senior Associate – Paralegal at Global Logistic Properties. She was also a paralegal at Pircher, Nichols & Meeks and Brixmor Property Group where she focused her work in the area of retail leasing transactions.

Amy received a Certificate of Paralegal Studies, with honors, from Loyola University Chicago and her B.A. from DePaul University.