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Meet Our Professionals

Cheryl V. Shaw

Partner
Atlanta | 470.240.3043
Fax | 404.869.6972

Cheryl Shaw advises school districts on operational issues, real estate transactions, contracting, and finance. She also serves as outside general counsel to entrepreneurial companies.

For more than 20 years, Cheryl has assisted school districts on the full range of their real estate needs, such as acquisitions and dispositions of real property, as well as implementation of capital plans and school construction projects, including public construction procurement. Those projects include land acquisitions (cooperative and by eminent domain), public works solicitations, negotiation and implementation guidance for the construction of elementary, middle, and high schools, as well as customized projects like STEM and STEAM schools and career academies. She has drafted, negotiated, and implemented architect-owner agreements, program management agreements, general contractor agreements, task-order construction contracts, and provided guidance when terms of the agreements were not met by the provider.

She has vast experience with education special purpose local option sales tax or ESPLOST (managing the referendum, including legal guidance on do’s and don’ts for school districts, as well as implementation and ensuing compliance requirements), tax allocation districts (TADs, also known as tax increment financing or TIF) analysis and intergovernmental agreements (IGAs), and other financing/funding sources for school real estate and transactions. She also reviews and advises school districts on the business and finance impacts of “bonds-for-title” (or “bond-lease”) projects proposed by development authorities.

In addition to advising on the intricate requirements of public construction procurement, Cheryl advises on general public procurement. She drafts, reviews, and negotiates contracts with vendors; drafts and negotiates memoranda of understanding (MOUs) and IGAs; and provides guidance on contract extensions, sole/single source issues, and operational considerations.

Cheryl also has deep experience helping entrepreneurial businesses grow. She has served as outside general counsel or in a similar capacity for clients in a variety of industries, including manufacturing and distribution. She has helped them grow through mergers, acquisitions, and other types of sales and purchases.

Across the board, clients appreciate how Cheryl always has their business strategy in mind and can explain complex topics in simple ways. They also value her responsiveness, as she shares her clients’ sense of urgency to get the deal done.   

Representative Experience

  • Successfully represented several school districts in ESPLOST referenda, implementation, and compliance since 2011.
  • Counseled school districts on government compliance, budget and millage matters, open meetings, open records, real estate matters, construction, financing, TADS, E-Rate, E-Verify, procurement, and intergovernmental  agreements.
  • Advised on business transactions (private and public), mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, commercial real estate, construction, tax allocation districts, finance (public and private), procurement and education/government law.
  • Advised clients on routine and high-end business and real estate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions.
    • Represented public school districts in numerous land acquisitions and sales.
    • Represented public school district in various ground lease agreements.
    • Represented seller of a multi-location landscape and hardscape wholesale distribution business to a publicly traded leader in the industry.
    • Represented seller of commercial glass manufacturing and installation company to private buyer.
    • Represented various sellers of franchised child care centers and real estate to private buyers.
    • Represented seller of commercial brush company in an asset sale.
    • Represented founder of fire sprinkler manufacturing company in sale of majority interest with equity retention.
    • Represented seller in $15 million sale of commercial real estate in Midtown Atlanta.
    • Represented purchaser in acquisition of retail shopping center.

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