Mr. Champion is an associate attorney in the Los Angeles office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, where he is a member of the firm's Real Estate Department.
Mr. Champion represents real estate developers, lenders and borrowers in a broad range of matters, including the negotiation and processing of land use approvals; the purchase, sale and leasing of commercial, mixed-use and multi-family assets; REO portfolio management and disposition; and the origination and restructuring of mortgage debt. As part of the team serving as outside general counsel to the Tejon Ranch Conservancy, Mr. Champion also has significant expertise in the negotiation and administration of conservation easements and related issues of range-land conservation.
Significant Representations and Transactions:
ˇ Represents the Los Angeles' Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM) as outside counsel, responsible for the preparation and negotiation of lease and license agreements and amendments; advising on landlord/tenant disputes and issues arising under reciprocal easement agreements; and negotiating with contractors, third-party vendors and municipal agencies.
ˇ Represented an investment bank as a land use counsel in its bankruptcy restructuring of multiple housing developments throughout Southern California.
ˇ Represented an investment bank in the workout of a $400 million loan portfolio, including negotiation of deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure, restructuring of existing debt, and disposition and strategic management of 51 multi-family residential and hotel properties.
ˇ Represented an equity partner in joint venture acquiring a multi-asset portfolio in Arizona, including review of land use approvals and related water rights.
ˇ Represented Clinica Oscar A. Romero, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, and New Heights Charter School in the negotiation of major lease amendments.
ˇ Represented Tejon Ranch Conservancy in its negotiations with the California Wildlife Conservation Board for state funding of the purchase of perpetual conservation easements across 62,000 acres of significant wildlife habitat on the Tejon Ranch, creating one of the largest conservation easements in California.
Mr. Champion is co-chair of the firm's Los Angeles-Area Diversity Committee, and also serves on the firm's Associates Committee. In the Summer of 2011, he served as co-coordinator of the Los Angeles Summer Associate Program. Mr. Champion was selected for Southern California Rising Stars 2009 by Law and Politics magazine, and is the recipient of the firm's 2011 Frank Wheat Award for Pro Bono Deal Team of the Year.
Mr. Champion earned his law degree in 2006 from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, summa cum laude, in 2001 from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Champion was a management consultant with the Dallas office of McKinsey & Company, focusing on the retail and consumer packaged goods sectors.