Eversheds Sutherland Expands Global Hospitality Team with Counsel Wendy Hansen

Eversheds Sutherland is pleased to announce that Wendy A. Hansen has joined the US Real Estate Practice Group as counsel, expanding the firm’s global team with an experienced hospitality attorney. Prior to joining Eversheds Sutherland, Ms. Hansen was Vice President and Legal Counsel for the Americas region at Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, a major international hotel investment and management group focusing on luxury hotels, resorts, and residences. She will sit in Eversheds Sutherland’s Atlanta office. 

“Wendy is a hospitality industry pro with a deep real estate skill set, and we are excited to welcome her to the firm,” said Partner Victor P. Haley, Co-Head of Global Real Estate and Planning. “She will play a leading role in the expansion of our Global Hospitality Team. Wendy’s extensive in-house knowledge of the operations of a top-tier international hotel brand gives her a unique perspective on the challenges hospitality companies face coming out of the pandemic.”

“I am thrilled to join Eversheds Sutherland and work in a truly global law firm that values excellence in client service,” said Ms. Hansen. “Having been ‘on the inside’ for both an owner and operator for nearly 14 years, I have a unique understanding of strategic ownership matters and everyday operational issues that is difficult to find in an external law firm. One key area of focus will be helping hospitality clients evaluate their operations in a post-COVID environment – whether it is embracing technology to bridge labor shortages or repositioning the asset to meet changing guest preferences.”  

Ms. Hansen focuses her practice on advising clients on a wide range of legal matters relevant to real estate and hospitality, including acquisitions, dispositions, financings, restructurings, new hotel development, complex management agreements and celebrity chef consulting and licensing agreements.

A trusted advisor to executive management teams, Ms. Hansen leverages her deep knowledge of hospitality operations and real estate transactions to achieve the organization’s goals. She has extensive experience leading legal and corporate teams to address a variety of issues and deliver compelling solutions, ranging from agreements and transactions to licensing, joint ventures, franchising, financing and corporate governance.

About Eversheds Sutherland’s Global Hospitality Team
Eversheds Sutherland’s Global Hospitality Team represents hotel and resort developers, owners, operators, lenders and servicers in projects throughout the world. Our team offers clients a fully managed and controlled service across the jurisdictions they operate in and can assist them in charting a course through the many differences in legislation that exist from country to country. The attorneys have negotiated management and franchise agreements with most major hotel chains that operate in the North America, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, the Caribbean, Central America and Latin America. Our experience extends to multiple practice areas and enables us to deal with a broad array of issues and projects across the hospitality industry including finance, franchise, management, real estate, operations, trademark, intellectual property, energy and environmental, construction, tax, bankruptcy, employment and litigation services. 

About Eversheds Sutherland’s Real Estate Practice Group
With more than 400 attorneys dedicated to real estate globally, the Eversheds Sutherland Real Estate group has developed a comprehensive understanding of the market, the economics of our clients’ industries and the legal issues that affect them. The team brings together transactional real estate and finance attorneys, which gives Eversheds Sutherland depth and speed to help clients identify opportunities, propose creative solutions and deal with complex issues when they arise. The attorneys have exceptional knowledge around tax and regulatory issues, and they comb through transaction details to make sure clients’ needs and concerns are addressed. The US-based team works in virtually every state and major real estate market, and international deals span the globe. Eversheds Sutherland has the depth to manage many different types of deals, including niche areas such as timber acquisition, hospitality, complex real estate finance, including multi-tranche mezzanine debt and data center development and leasing.

About Eversheds Sutherland 
As a global top 10 law practice, Eversheds Sutherland provides legal services to a global client base ranging from small and mid-sized businesses to the largest multinationals, acting for 79 of the Fortune 100, 65 of the FTSE 100 and 134 of the Fortune 200.

With more than 3,000 lawyers, Eversheds Sutherland operates in over 70 offices in more than 30 countries across Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the United States. In addition, a network of more than 200 related law firms, including formalized alliances in Latin America, Asia Pacific and Africa, provide support around the globe.

Eversheds Sutherland provides the full range of legal services, including corporate and M&A; dispute resolution and litigation; energy and infrastructure; finance; human capital and labor law; intellectual property; real estate and construction; and tax. 

Eversheds Sutherland is a global legal practice and comprises two separate legal entities: Eversheds Sutherland (International) LLP (headquartered in the UK) and Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP (headquartered in the US), and their respective controlled, managed, affiliated and member firms. The use of the name Eversheds Sutherland is for description purposes only and does not imply that the member firms or their controlled, managed or affiliated entities are in a partnership or are part of a global LLP. For more information, visit eversheds-sutherland.com.