Profil
Cara Kelly, Co-Managing Shareholder of the Austin office, focuses her practice on complex commercial litigation, with an emphasis on real estate litigation. Her practice includes the representation of multi-family and mixed-use developers, commercial landlords and tenants, investors, owners, and related stakeholders in disputes concerning real estate development, construction, investments, commercial lease and commercial contracting matters, breach of contract issues, tenant restructuring, and related litigation. She has wide-ranging experience advising clients on commercial real estate challenges from contract formation to negotiations in any scenario, with a goal to mitigate risk and circumvent litigation. Cara often represents clients in both the federal and state courts throughout Texas and the United States and has developed particular experience in pursuing and defending TRO applications and related applications for injunctive relief.
Cara is a strong advocate for her clients, developing and applying creative strategies and a value-based approach in each specific matter. Her clients appreciate her ability to handle their legal issues efficiently, and in alignment with their overall business goals.
Concentrations
- Real estate litigation
- Real estate disputes
- Landlord-tenant disputes
- Property acquisition disputes
- Shopping center and retail disputes
- Development disputes
- Lease Disputes
- General acquisition disputes
- Complex commercial litigation
- Breach of contract
- Breach of fiduciary duty
Expertise
Erfahrung
- On behalf of a national retail grocery chain tenant, obtained injunctive relief against a commercial landlord, preventing it from exercising rights under a purported lease termination.
- On behalf of a commercial real estate development company, successfully defended against injunctive relief sought by a national office coworking tenant.
- Obtained injunctive relief against a commercial property landlord/seller, preventing a wrongful lease termination and enforcing the terms of client’s contractual purchase option exercise.
- Represent national childcare franchise in commercial lease disputes.
- Advise clients during real estate contract negotiations to mitigate risk.
- On behalf of various commercial real estate developers and landlords, pursued and resolved various lease disputes with defaulting tenants as a result of the economic impact of COVID-19.
- Defendant a national financial institution tenant against commercial landlord’s breach of lease allegations resulting from COVID-19 occupancy restrictions.
- On behalf of national mixed-use development company, successfully pursued various breach of lease, construction, and related contractual cases against tenants and third parties.
- Successfully defended a commercial real estate developer against breach of contract and fiduciary claims brought by investors.°
- Represented debtor, an oil and gas company in bankruptcy adversary proceedings filed by investors holding more than $500 MM in overriding royalty and net profits interests in offshore leases.°
- Successfully defended national media company against breach of contract claims.
- Defended a nationwide health care company in multiple cases in Austin, Texas. The cases involved alleged breaches of joint venture agreements with a physician group.°
- Represented a foreign company against an online app developer in connection with a breach of contract dispute.°
- Represented a French bank in obtaining summary judgment against a Brazilian guarantor, including serving Brazilian guarantor through the International Convention on Letters Rogatory.°
- Represented a Canadian silver mining company that operates in Mexico in obtaining an ex parte writ of garnishment on a bank, in connection with work enforcing an $81 MM Canadian judgment in Texas and New York.°
- Represented the conservator of a Texas credit union in pursuing breach of fiduciary duty claims against its former CEO.°
°The above representations were handled by Ms. Kelly prior to her joining Greenberg Traurig, LLP.
Anerkennung durch den Markt
- Listed, The Best Lawyers in America, Litigation - Real Estate, 2025
- Team Member, a Law360 "Real Estate Practice Group of the Year," 2023
- Team Member, U.S. News – Best Lawyers, "Law Firm of the Year: Litigation - Real Estate," 2022
- Listed, Austin Monthly Magazine, "Top Attorneys in Austin," 2020
- Listed, Texas Super Lawyers magazine, “Texas Super Lawyers Rising Stars,” 2015
- Executive Board Member, Shalom Austin
- Board Member, Women’s Philanthropy Committee, Lion of Judah Steward
- Member, Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW) Network Austin
- Member, Urban Land Institute (ULI) Austin
- Member, Real Estate Council of Austin (RECA)
- Member, American Bar Association
- Real Estate, Condemnation and Trust Litigation Committee
- Member, Austin Bar Association
- Member, Travis County Women Lawyers' Association
- Member, State Bar of Texas
- Member, Mother Attorney Mentoring Association of Austin (MAMAs)
- Member, Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
- Member, New York State Bar Association
Ausbildung
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J.D., Fordham University School of Law
- Member, Fordham International Law Journal
- B.A., Binghamton University, State University of New York
- Texas
- New York
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas
- U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York