About

Since May 2017 and the merger between Marriott and Starwood, Lara Y. Barrett has served as the lead counsel responsible for Marriott’s new development and renewals of legacy hotels transactions and hotel acquisitions and dispositions of owned assets in Europe. This has been achieved by working in conjunction with Marriott’s legal and business teams in Europe and US headquarters. ‘Due to the acquisition of Starwood by Marriott and being the sole senior member of the Starwood legal team that remained with Marriott, I have had the opportunity to assist Marriott in integrating and understanding the Starwood hotel contracts and operational issues. [This] allowed me to enhance my knowledge of another large hospitality group and to assist in the successful merger of the two groups’, says Barrett. With 10 years of experience in international law firms in M&A, real estate, joint venture and corporate transactions, as well as extensive experience in in-house hospitality and corporate in two Fortune 500 companies, Barrett considers herself a business minded and solution driven lawyer with extensive experience. ‘As I work with c-level corporate executives, I have learned to be successful in delivering positive results in complex transactions and negotiations’, she says. Prior to this role, she was responsible for Starwood’s hotel acquisitions and dispositions of owned and leased assets in Europe working in conjunction with Starwood’s worldwide president of global development and Starwood’s worldwide real estate investment management business team based in the headquarters. She also provided legal advice to the EAME senior leadership and regional operational teams on hotel development, hotel operations, owner related issues, workouts, general legal matters and negotiation of sale and renovation of owned real estate in the Italy, Central Mediterranean and Iberia regions. She also advised on matters related to the two largest EAME Starwood hotel owners having hotels spread throughout all EAME regions. She was also the sole lawyer responsible for the centralisation of all corporate housekeeping for all Starwood EAME entities and to provide general training for new paralegals, new lawyers and staff. From November 2007 to May 2017 she was the lead counsel for real estate with specific development and renovation contracts for Starwood owned and leased hotels for specific major renovation projects, working closely with Starwood’s divisional and regional architect and design teams. During her time here she was the lead counsel in Starwood’s EAME mergers and acquisitions team for a new development transactions, as well as negotiating re-ups of legacy hotels. Barrett is recognised by her peers for her strong leadership and communication skills, as well as her dedication to mentoring other team members. She takes particular pride in encouraging each lawyer to take the time to train and mentor other legal colleagues, assistants, lawyers and paralegals so as to allow for growth within the department. ‘Early into my career, I was provided the opportunity to manage a team of lawyers and paralegals which enabled me to hone my managerial skills and also revealed that I greatly enjoy mentoring and teaching my colleagues’, explains Barrett. She has promoted several assistants to a paralegal level after mentoring them to allow them to continue to learn and be challenged by their work environment and has been instrumental in the promotion of younger lawyers within the department to allow for their internal and professional growth. ‘The feedback has been extremely positive’, says Barrett. Some of her critical transactions include the sale and manage-back of the Westin Rome and St Regis Rome hotels, the sale and manage-back of the Westin Florence and St Regis Florence hotels, the sale and manage-back of the Gritti Hotel in Venice, and the dissolution of the Arabella-Starwood joint venture.