Catherine Burns > Seyfarth Shaw LLP > Boston, United States > Lawyer Profile
Seyfarth Shaw LLP Offices

TWO SEAPORT LANE
SUITE 300
BOSTON, MA 02210-2028
MASSACHUSETTS
United States
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Catherine Burns

Position
Partner
Career
Catherine is an efficient and pragmatic real estate attorney who provides protective guidance to her clients. She strives to understand her clients’ business, their goals, and particular sensitivities with a direct and practical style. When geography permits, Catherine opts to hash deals out at a conference room table, and more often than not, her deals get done in four, not 40, drafts.
For more than 20 years, Catherine has represented real estate funds, developers, owners, and operators in connection with all aspects of their real estate investment transactions. She also provides trusted counsel on joint venture formation and restructuring, acquisition, development and financing, portfolio transactions, and leasing matters. Her broad practice touches upon every major sector—including office, retail, multifamily, and industrial.
Catherine stays on the front lines of industry trends and the changing marketplace, as evidenced by her recent experience managing transactions in the cannabis and opportunity zone investment space. As chair of the firm’s Boston Real Estate department, Catherine also remains connected with local market leaders and is in tune with current market terms. This allows her the ability to negotiate transactional documents with proficiency and to connect her clients with partners in the marketplace.
Education
- BS, Boston University
Cum laude - JD, Suffolk University Law School
Cum laude
Lawyer Rankings
United States > Real estate > Real estate
‘Friendly and accessible’, Seyfarth Shaw LLP’s broad real estate practice covers the gamut of asset types including data centers, healthcare, hospitality and hotel as well as commercial properties in retail and industrials. Household names like 7-Eleven form part of the firm’s client roster, with a wider base consisting of funds, financial institutions, banks, and REITs, among others. Paul Mattingly, located in the firm’s Atlanta office, acts as national chair of the real estate department, with managing partner of the Atlanta office, Steven L. Kennedy, taking the lead of the development practice group. Catherine Burns is a key name on investment transactions in Boston, as is Eric Greenberg on leasing. In New York, Daniel Evans is noted for his expertise on financing, loan, and restructuring work, while Robin Freeman, based in San Francisco, co-leads the national health care real estate & finance practice. New York’s Cynthia Mitchell is another key name, noted for her role as co-chair of the health care, life sciences & pharmaceuticals industry group. Alongside its transaction and finance expertise, the firm is also highly experienced on joint ventures, leasing, and private-public-partnerships, with further capabilities extending to more niche areas, evidenced through the firm’s Corporate Transparency Act Taskforce. In 2023, the firm gained partners Amy Simpson and Katie Schwarting from Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner together with Neil Weisbard, formerly at Pryor Cashman LLP. That same year saw the firm open an office in Dallas.
Lawyer Rankings
Top Tier Firm Rankings
- Real estate > Construction (including construction litigation)
- Labor and employment > Immigration
- Labor and employment > Labor and employment disputes (including collective actions)
- Labor and employment > Labor-management relations
- Labor and employment > Immigration
- Labor and employment > Immigration
- Labor and employment > Immigration
- Labor and employment > Workplace and employment counseling
Firm Rankings
- Dispute resolution > E-discovery
- Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: design
- Labor and employment > ERISA litigation
- Government > Government contracts
- M&A/corporate and commercial > M&A: middle-market (sub-$500m)
- Tax > Not-for-profit (Fortune 1000 private foundations, national trade associations, and charities)
- Intellectual property > Trade secrets (litigation and non-contentious matters)
- Media, technology and telecoms > Cyber law (including data privacy and data protection)
- Real estate > Real estate
- Industry focus > Cannabis
- Dispute resolution > Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: consumer products (including tobacco)
- Real estate > Real estate finance
- Dispute resolution > Securities litigation: defense
- Investment fund formation and management > Private equity funds (including venture capital)
- Tax > US taxes: non-contentious