LaVon M. Johns

Biography

LaVon M. Johns is Partner in Charge of Gonzalez Saggio & Harlan’s Chicago office. Ms. Johns has represented numerous commercial and industrial clients in multi-million dollar commercial real estate transactions, including acquisitions, dispositions, real-estate based financings, workouts, development, office and retail management and complex commercial leasing relating to real property located in the U.S. and abroad. She has extensive experience in counseling clients engaged in corporate mergers and acquisitions involving real property.

For nearly 20 years, Ms. Johns has represented numerous nonprofit and faith-based foundations and organizations. She has provided legal counsel to some of the most recognized faith-based organizations located within the Chicagoland area on issues relating to nonprofit federal and state law governance, local governmental politics and relations, governmental compliance and 501 regulatory issues, commercial real estate development (including expansion and leasing), real property gifts issues, unrelated business income, real estate property tax issues, foreclosure and workouts. In addition, Ms. Johns has represented numerous faith-based lenders in connection with loans to faith-based borrowers and in the execution of loans for charitable purposes and missions.

Below is a list of representative matters Ms. Johns has handled on behalf of nonprofits:

• Counsel to a faith based organization in connection with the formation of its economic development corporation, including assemblage and filing of its 501(c)(3) application.
• Counsel to a political action group in connection with the filing of its 501(c)(6) application.
• Counsel to a not-for-profit Christian Association in connection with its national mission planning goals to ensure regulatory compliance.
• Counsel to a local foundation in connection with its annual state and local compliance reporting requirements.

In addition, Ms. Johns has a broad range of legal proficiency, experience and practical knowledge in all facets of commercial lending. She has represented numerous borrowers and lenders, including banks, financing companies, financial institutions and governmental entities in a variety of secured and unsecured financing transactions. Ms. Johns has handled numerous services, including refinancings, lines of credit, letters of credit/credit enhancement, conventional mortgage loans, TIF financings, LIHTC financings, receivable financings, loan portfolio acquisitions, workouts and foreclosures, senior and subordinated loan participations, construction financings, equipment financings and sale and leasebacks.

Ms. Johns’ experience includes public/private partnership transactions, including acting as lead real estate counsel to the City of Chicago in a $1.8 billion transaction in the privatization of the Chicago Skyway Toll Bridge and a $563 million transaction in the privatization of the Chicago Parking Garage System.

Ms. Johns was selected as one of “40 Illinois Attorneys under 40 to Watch” by Law Bulletin Publishing Company in 2004. In 2006, 2008, and 2011-2015, Ms. Johns has been selected for inclusion on the Illinois Super Lawyers® list as a result of research conducted jointly by Law & Politics and Chicago magazines. She has been named one of the 100 Top Women in Real Estate by the Illinois Real Estate Journal for the past three years. Ms. Johns is listed in the 2010 and 2011 editions of The Best Lawyers in America - the definitive guide to legal excellence in the United States. She has also been selected in 2011, 2012, and 2015 as a Leading Lawyer by the Leading Lawyers Network. Ms. Johns is a Chicago United Leaders Council Member and was selected to serve on the 2015 Business Leaders of Color Nominee Ranking Committee.

She attained the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Accredited Professional (LEED AP) accreditation issued by the U.S. Green Building Council. She is currently one of very few attorneys in Illinois to attain this designation. She is a member of the American Bar Association (Affordable Housing Subcommittee), National Bar Association, Chicago Bar Association, Lambda Alpha International – Ely Chapter, and U.S. Green Building Council (Chicago Chapter), Urban Land Institute, and Women in Planning and Development. Ms. Johns is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education (IICLE) and the Monarch Award Foundation. In 2012, Ms. Johns was appointed to the Cook County Land Bank Advisory Committee, a mechanism for redeveloping vacant and tax delinquent property in the County.

Ms. Johns currently serves as an Adjunct Professor at the Northwestern University School of Law, is a lecturer at the National Business Institute, and has participated as presenter or panelist for such organizations as the ABA, Chicago Urban League, and Lambda Alpha International. She served as the General Editor of the 2008 Practice Handbook (as supplemented in 2010), published by IICLE entitled Real Estate Litigation, where she authored Chapter 11, entitled “Real Estate Broker Litigation.” In 2013, she acted as General Editor of the 2013 version of this same IICLE Practice Handbook and authored Chapter 11.

Ms. Johns earned her J.D. at Northwestern University School of Law and a B.A., magna cum laude, from Creighton University. She is admitted to practice in Illinois and Nebraska.

Education & Bar Admissions

Education

• Northwestern University School of Law, J.D.
• Creighton University, B.A., magna cum laude

Bar Admissions

• Illinois
• Nebraska

In the News

• 1/16/2015 - LaVon Johns and R Delacy Peters Selected for 2015 Illinois Super Lawyers® List
• 12/23/2014 - LaVon Johns Selected to Serve on 2015 Business Leaders of Color Nominee Ranking Committee
• 7/28/2014 - Donald Levine and LaVon Johns to Participate in YMCA Student Mock Trial
• 7/8/2014 - Donald Levine and LaVon Johns to Participate in the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Legal Clinic
• 6/30/2014 - LaVon Johns Presenting at Illinois Institute for CLE
• 1/13/2014 - LaVon Johns and R Delacy Peters Selected for 2014 Illinois Super Lawyers® List
• 9/12/2013 - LaVon Johns speaking at the 9th Annual Real Estate Short Course for the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education
• 4/11/2013 - LaVon Johns Editor and Contributing Author of IICLE’s 2013 Edition of Real Estate Litigation
• 2/1/2013 - GSH Welcomes LaVon M. Johns