James T. Mayer is a partner in Holland & Knight’s Chicago office, a director of the firm's Management Committee and the deputy section leader of marketing for the firm's National Real Estate Practice, which is comprised of more than 200 real estate professionals – the largest domestic real estate department in this country. Mr. Mayer has extensive experience in retail leasing transactions across the United States, including the representation of Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois and Simon Properties, formerly known as Mills Corporation, in various retail leasing matters, including anchor tenant leasing. He was the co-chair of Holland & Knight's National Retail Leasing and Development Team. He concentrates his practice in commercial real estate law, including all aspects of real estate acquisition, development, leasing, operation, management and disposition. Mr. Mayer represents real estate pension funds, investment advisory groups (for their own account and unrelated third parties), real estate investment trusts, national and international franchisors, financial institutions, commercial and residential developers and office, retail and industrial landlords and tenants. He also has significant experience in acquisitions of hotels, sports facilities development and real estate finance. In particular, Mr. Mayer was one of the principal attorneys who represented Miami-Dade County in connection with the drafting and negotiating of the development, management and operating agreements for the American Airlines Arena.

Mr. Mayer is a frequent speaker on real estate related topics, in particular retail-related speeches and workshops for ICSC.