Areas of Practice Concentration

• Business Transactions
• Commercial Real Estate
• Estate Planning
• Trusts
• Zoning and Land Use Regulation

Education

• Universidad de Antioquia, Medellin, Colombia 1971
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, B.A. 1972
• St. Catherine’s College, Oxford University, UK 1974
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, J.D. 1977
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, M.R.P 1977

Bar Admissions

• North Carolina, 1977
• District of Columbia, 1977

Professional Affiliations

• Wake County, North Carolina and District of Columbia Bar Associations
• Wake County Real Property Lawyers Association
• Alternate Member of City of Raleigh Board of Adjustment

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 keeps a lookout for the unexpected twists.

Since he started with a residential real estate practice 18 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 condominium declarations, reviewing restrictive covenants, 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.

In addition to his credo, 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 and transactions. 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. He is Vice Chairman on the City of Raleigh’s Board of Adjustments and was named by “Business North Carolina” magazine as a member of its 2008 Legal Elite for real estate law.

top of page