A good lawyer must be alert to the unexpected. A client may want
to buy a business one day, acquire land for development the next,
and update his estate plan the following week. In each instance, Larry
McBennett listens closely to the client, defines the objective, figures
out how to get there, and watches for unexpected twists.
Since he started with a residential real estate practice 19 years
ago, Larry has closed more than 4,500 transactions. Although he now
concentrates on commercial real estate, he still adheres to a motto
that he formulated in his early practice: “Clients hire you
to find needles in haystacks, and you better find them if they are
there.”
Larry handles a full array of commercial real estate transactions
and issues, from purchases to leases to development. He has a wealth
of experience preparing restrictive covenants, reviewing leases and
contracts, representing homeowners associations and closing loans
of all types.
Larry’s knowledge of business transactions complements his
commercial real estate practice. He can set up a corporation or a
limited liability company. He can write and advise clients on contracts,
shareholder agreements, employment agreements and other business documents.
His attention to detail combined with reliable advice enables him
to assist clients when they buy and sell businesses.
Looking for the unexpected while keeping the client’s objective
in mind is particularly important to Larry’s third area of practice,
which involves writing wills and trusts. Each clients’ needs
and wishes are different, and these highly personal legal documents
must be carefully tailored to comply with both the law and the client’s
circumstances.
Larry brings special skills and experiences to his practice, including
fluency in Spanish. Having lived abroad in Colombia and Germany, he
is comfortable with international clients. He worked for the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, where he earned the agency’s
highest employee award after only two years. He holds a masters degree
in City and Regional Planning, from which he derived a firm conviction
that the prosperity that comes with urban growth must be managed so
that the end result is a better place in which to live and not just
a bigger place. Larry served as Vice Chairman of the City of Raleigh’s
Board of Adjustment in 2008, and he was elected as the Chairman in
2009. He was named by Business North Carolina magazine as
a member of its 2008 Legal Elite for real estate law.
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