Mr. Willis is a member of our Corporate Section and is head of our Real Estate and Commercial Finance Groups. He practices primarily in the areas of commercial transactions, negotiated acquisitions, corporate law, banking and commercial real estate.

Over the past year, Scott has represented clients in closing the following transactions:

• the $60 million acquisition of the Pan American Life Building in New Orleans, Louisiana by a group of investors led by Stirling Properties. This transaction was referenced in The Wall Street Journal on December 8, 2010, as its "Deal of the Week".
• Rouses Supermarkets' acquisition and New Markets Tax Credit financing of the former Sewell Cadillac building on Baronne Street in the Central Business District of New Orleans, which will serve as the site for a 40,000 square foot grocery store - the largest in the downtown New Orleans area.
• Sale of a Marriott-flagged hotel in Metairie, Louisiana.
• Sale by Aspire plc of its equity ownership interest in L&L Oil and Gas Holdings LLC.
• Refinancings of numerous commercial real estate developments, including:
  • Stirling Properties' MacArthur Village Shopping Center in Alexandria, Louisiana;
  • Stirling Properties' Premier Centre Retail Center in Mandeville, Louisiana;
  • the Suites at Sugar Mill Point, an assisted living community in Houma, Louisiana; and three Marriott-flagged hotels in New Orleans, and two Marriott-flagged hotels in Metairie.

Scott graduated from Louisiana State University in 1980 and received his J.D. degree from LSU in 1983, where he was a member of the Order of the Coif, and he also served as an associate editor of the Louisiana Law Review. Scott is a member of the LSU Law School Alumni Board of Trustees.

He is the past chair of the ABA's Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section Committee on Legal Opinions, and is currently Vice Chairman of the ACREL Legal Opinions Committee and a member of the Law Firm Advisory Board of the Working Group on Legal Opinions. He was a member of the drafting group for the ABA/ACREL Real Estate Opinion Letter Guidelines 38 REAL. PROP. PROB. amp;& TR. J. 241 (2003). He is a fellow of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers and a past Chair of the Louisiana Bankers Association's Bank Counsel Committee. He is also Chairman of the New Orleans Bureau of Governmental Research. He is the author of Article 9 Remedies in West's Louisiana Statutes Annotated Code of Civil Procedure. He has frequently lectured on commercial transactions and legal opinion issues. He has been ranked as one of the top lawyers in Louisiana practicing in the areas of banking and finance by Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business and is named in The Best Lawyers in America for expertise in Financial Institutions amp; Transaction Law. Scott is also listed in The International Who's Who of Real Estate Lawyers.

Scott has counseled business clients in a variety of matters, including a $3 billion bank note securitization; a $250 million secured oil and gas revolving credit facility; numerous helicopter and vessel financings; the acquisition, merger and sale of numerous private and public companies; numerous high yield public bond offerings, numerous bank mergers and branch transactions; the acquisition of the Canal Place mixed-use development in New Orleans; the acquisition, development, financing, and sale of numerous hotels, grocery store chains, shopping centers and other commercial properties; the development, construction and financing of petrochemical refineries, LNG Storage facilities and underground storage facilities; and military base closures and redevelopments.

Scott is a member of the New Orleans, Louisiana State, and American Bar Associations.