Career Trajectory

Law to Fact

In this episode...
Mike Cohn, Founder and President of Berkley Development shares his own journey out of the law. He begins with a fateful phone call that took him out of the litigation practice he spent three years preparing for and into real estate, a practice area he knew nothing about, but ended up being ideal. Mike has the benefit of perspective and shares with us his first-hand understanding that one’s first job out of law school is likely to look nothing like the jobs you hold down the road.
Some key takeaways are...

1. The law that interests you when you enter law school is not necessarily the law that interests you when you leave.
2. After your first job, your work product becomes your resume.
3. Acquire mentors. Different mentors are helpful for different reasons.
4. Envision your life in 5-7 years and then work backward. What steps must you take to reach that 5-7 year goal?

About our guest...
After running numerous large retail platforms over the course of his 30 years in commercial real estate, in 2016 Mike Cohn founded Berkley Development, an Atlanta based real estate investment firm. Berkley Development specializes in the capitalization and development/redevelopment of commercial and mixed-use development projects throughout the Sun Belt.

Prior to founding Berkley, Mike was the co-founder of Lennar Commercial, a Miami FL based subsidiary of Lennar Corporation, Previously, Mike was Executive Vice President at Cousins Properties in Atlanta overseeing Cousins nationwide retail platform, and Senior Managing Director at Faison & Associates responsible for Faison's development and operating platform in the Southeastern US. Mike began his career as a commercial real estate attorney at Troutman Sanders, an Atlanta based international law firm.

Mike received a BBA with high distinction in Accounting and Finance from Emory University and a Juris Doctor degree with honors from the University of Florida College of Law.
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