Thomas Macdonald

Shareholder

Practice Areas

Land Use

Litigation

Troubled Credits + Distressed Properties

Real Estate Finance

Real Estate

Eminent Domain

Bio  Admissions and Affiliations  Speeches and Publications 

Bio

A shareholder at Otten Johnson, Tom has substantial experience representing commercial lenders, with particular emphasis on loan foreclosures, workouts, bankruptcies and mechanics' lien litigation.  He also represents private sector clients in complex litigation involving land use and governmental regulation. Tom has lectured at numerous continuing legal education seminars in these areas. Prior to attending law school, Tom worked as a newsman for the Associated Press in Denver, his native city.Tom has been practicing law since 1981 and has three distinct specialties: (i) land use and constitutional litigation, (ii) workouts, foreclosures and bankruptcy, and (iii) real estate.

LAND USE AND CONSTITUTIONAL LITIGATION. Tom represents both local governments and developers in land use and constitutional litigation. Tom has had the opportunity to participate in a number of high profile land use cases which have arisen out of the firm's large and complex land use practice. These cases include Bd. of County Comm'rs of Douglas County v. Bainbridge, 929 P.2d 691 (Colo. 1997), in which the firm's clients successfully challenged the authority of Colorado counties to impose school impact fees, and Hillside Community Church, S.B.C., v. Olson, 58 P.3d 1021 (Colo. 2002), in which a local government client successfully persuaded the court to reverse a judgment against it for violation of procedural due process. Tom has taught at numerous continuing legal education programs in this area and recently authored the chapter on Colorado law for the book Development Impact Fees in the Rocky Mountain Region, Second Edition, published by the Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute. Chambers USA recently ranked Tom one of the top land use lawyers in Colorado.

WORKOUTS, FORECLOSURES AND BANKRUPTCIES.  This was Tom's first area of specialization.  Throughout his career, Tom has represented many banks, insurance companies and other lenders in collecting troubled commercial loans. It remained a significant part of his practice even through the good economic times in the 1990s and 2000s, and today, again, constitutes the larger portion of his practice.  While the greatest part of Tom's experience in this area involves troubled commercial real estate loans, including office, retail, multifamily residential, resort, industrial and agricultural properties, his workout experience also includes account and inventory financing. Tom has also been a frequent lecturer at programs in this area.

REAL ESTATE.  The great divide in the practice of law is not the divide between different subject areas, but the divide between litigation and a transactional practice. Tom manages to straddle this divide and also does transactional work for real estate lenders, purchasers, sellers and construction companies. He has been able to do this both because of common clients and the close relationship between the subject matter of his litigation practice and the firm's real estate practice.

 

Admissions and Affiliations

State of Colorado
American Bar Association
Colorado Bar Association
Denver Bar Association

 

Speeches and Publications

Restructuring Troubled Real Estate Loans (July 2009)