The American College of Real Estate Lawyers (ACREL) has elected Womble Bond Dickinson attorneys Kim Kelly Mann and Scott Schaaf as Fellows in the Class of 2018.

Mann, who recently was named Managing Partner of Womble Bond Dickinson’s Winston-Salem, N.C. office, has more than 30 years of experience representing banks and other financial institutions in complex commercial real estate construction financings.

She and her team have negotiated and closed eight- and nine-figure transactions throughout the United States. Mann’s experience includes acquisition, construction, and infrastructure development loans, multi-state real estate portfolio fixed asset and revolving credit facilities, syndicated commercial real estate construction and portfolio loans, unsubordinated fee ground lease financings, financings to government leased facilities, tenant in common structured loans, and tax-advantaged and economic incentives financings.

Schaaf primarily focuses his real estate practice on the acquisition, development, and sale of commercial and industrial properties and the negotiation of retail, office and industrial leases for properties located all across the United States. Schaaf also has experience in a diverse range of corporate finance and real estate finance transactions in connection with providing counsel to businesses and lenders as to structuring, negotiating and documenting all aspects of senior debt credit arrangements, including multi-state, multi-lender, and multi-currency transactions (both secured and unsecured, including traditional commercial mortgage transactions).

He recently served a term as Chair of the Real Property Section of the North Carolina Bar Association and is currently the NC Bar Association’s representative on the North Carolina Electronic Recording Council. Schaaf practices in the firm’s Winston-Salem office.

ACREL was founded in 1978 to improve the quality of real estate law and practice, and to promote high standards of professional and ethical responsibility in the practice of real estate law.

Admission to the College is by invitation only after a rigorous screening process and peer review. ACREL Fellows are “viewed as distinguished real estate practitioners, who observe high standards of professional and ethical conduct, who have contributed substantially to the improvement of real estate law, and who actively practice and have a minimum of 10 years' experience in real estate law,” according to the College.