Attorney Scott Willis

Practice Focus

Business Banking and Finance, Real Estate

Scott Willis practices primarily in the areas of commercial transactions, negotiated acquisitions, banking and commercial real estate acquisitions, development, and financing.

“[Scott] is a fantastic lawyer.” —Real Estate Client, Chambers and Partners

Scott is a fellow of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers (ACREL) and serves as secretary of its 2026 Board of Governors, having previously served as a member. He is also a member of the American College of Mortgage Attorneys (ACMA) and serves on its Board of Regents. Scott is a past chair of the ACMA Opinions Committee, the American Bar Association’s Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section Committee on Legal Opinions, and the ACREL Attorneys’ Opinions Committee. He also served as chair of the American Bar Association Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section Standing CLE Committee and as a Supervisory Council member of the Section.

Scott is a past chair of the Louisiana Bankers Association’s Bank Counsel Committee and the New Orleans Bureau of Governmental Research, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Working Group on Legal Opinions Foundation. He frequently lectures on commercial transactions and legal opinion issues and has served as a guest lecturer at LSU Law School, where he is also an emeritus member of the Alumni Board of Trustees.

Experience

Served as counsel to Sunrise Foods International in connection with the establishment of the first U.S. dedicated natural grain facility at the Port of New Orleans
Served as counsel to the New Orleans Convention Center, which controls the majority of a 47-acre property along the east bank of the Mississippi River, in negotiations for the master development of and ground leases for the $1 billion mixed-use River District development project; current plans include a new office building to house Shell Oil’s Gulf of Mexico headquarters, a Top Golf entertainment complex, and approximately 900 mixed-income apartments and condominiums, including space for those qualifying for affordable or workforce housing rents
$60 million acquisition of the Pan American Life Building in New Orleans by Stirling Properties, which transaction was referenced in The Wall Street Journal on December 8, 2010, as its “Deal of the Week.”
Rouses Supermarkets’ acquisition of the southern division of A & P Supermarkets and subsequent expansion to 80 plus stores, including the leasing, construction and remodeling of numerous facilities.
Acquisition, financing, and transfer of over two dozen hotel developments.
Fauji Fertilizer’s acquisition, dismantlement, shipping, and redevelopment of a large chemical facility from Louisiana to Pakistan.
Acquisition and financing of The Canal Place mixed-use development in Louisiana.
Development and financing of several above ground and below ground natural gas storage facilities.
Stirling Properties’ development of the River Chase and Fremaux mixed-use communities in St. Tammany Parish, the Ambassador Town Center in Lafayette, the Mid-City Market in New Orleans, and Target-anchored shopping centers in Bossier City and Lafayette.
Acquisition and later sale of a leading fuel and lubricants supplier.
Numerous helicopter and marine vessel financings.
Regularly represent borrowers in syndicated commercial real estate financings.
President of the firm’s affiliated title company, Commercial Title Agency, Inc., agent for Fidelity National Title Insurance Company, First American Title Insurance Company, Chicago Title Insurance Company and Stewart Title Guaranty Company.

Professional Activities & Community Involvement

Professional Activities

Secretary, 2026 Board of Governors, American College of Real Estate Lawyers (ACREL)
Board of Regents, American College of Mortgage Attorneys (ACMA)
Member, American College of Mortgage Attorneys (ACMA)
Fellow, American College of Real Estate Lawyers (ACREL)
Supervisory Council Member, American Bar Association Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section
Chair, American Bar Association Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section Standing CLE Committee
Chair, American Bar Association Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section Committee on Legal Opinions
Chair, American College of Mortgage Attorneys Opinions Committee
Chair, American College of Real Estate Lawyers Attorneys’ Opinions Committee
Chair, Louisiana Bankers Association Bank Counsel Committee
Emeritus Member, LSU Law School Alumni Board of Trustees

Community Involvement

Board of Directors, Working Group on Legal Opinions Foundation
Chair, New Orleans Bureau of Governmental Research

Publications / Presentations

Co-presenter, “Follow-On Opinions in Financing Transactions,” American College of Mortgage Attorneys 2025 Annual Meeting, Oct. 2025.
Podcast Guest, “Third Party Legal Opinions,” The Deep Dirt Dive — A Real Estate Law Podcast, American College of Real Estate Lawyers, July 2025.
Author, “Managing Professional Liability Risks in Preparing Legal Opinions,” ALI CLE: The Practical Real Estate Lawyer, March 2025.
Co-presenter, “Real Estate Finance Opinion Letters: Assumptions and Limitations,” American Law Institute Continuing Education CLE and American College of Real Estate Lawyers webinar, April 2024.
Editor, Opinions Matters, the newsletter of the Legal Opinions Committee of the ABA Real Property, Trust and Estate Laws Section.
Co-author, “Title Insurance or Title Opinion Letters?” 7 No. 1 REAL PROP. TR. & EST. O.M. 11, Spring/Summer 2023
Co-editor, “Uniform Commercial Code Opinions in Real Estate Finance Transactions” by ACMA, ACREL and RPTE. 53 REAL PROP. TR. & EST. L. J. 137, Fall/Winter 2018.
Co-editor, “Local Counsel Opinion Letters in Real Estate Finance Transactions,” A Supplement to the Real Estate Finance Opinion Report of 2012 by ACMA, ACREL and RPTE, 51 REAL PROP. TR & EST. L. J. 137, Fall 2016.
Member of the drafting group for the ABA/ACREL Real Estate Opinion Letter Guidelines 38 REAL. PROP. PROB. & TR. J. 241, 2003.
Author of Article 9 Remedies in West’s Louisiana Statutes Annotated Code of Civil Procedure

Education

J.D. from Louisiana State University, 1983
- Associate Editor of the Louisiana Law Review
- Order of the Coif
B.A. from Louisiana State University, 1980