Cummings & Lockwood LLC
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Cummings & Lockwood is pleased to announce that Jonathan B. Mills has been named "Lawyer of the Year" in Real Estate Law by Best Lawyers®

August 20, 2024

Jonathan B. Mills, Chair of Cummings & Lockwood's Commercial Real Estate Group, was named "Lawyer of the Year" in Real Estate Law in the Stamford region by Best Lawyers® in 2025.

Best Lawyers® is the oldest and most respected peer-review publication company in the legal profession. Since it was first published in 1983, Best Lawyers has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence.

Recognition by Best Lawyers® is widely regarded by both clients and legal professionals as a significant honor, conferred on a lawyer by their peers. For more than four decades, their publications have earned the respect of the profession, the media and the public as the most reliable, unbiased source of legal referrals anywhere.

The "Lawyer of the Year" award is given to individual lawyers who receive the highest overall peer feedback for a specific legal practice area and geographic region. Only one lawyer is recognized as the "Lawyer of the Year" for a specialty and metropolitan location each year.

Based in the Greenwich office, Jon brings nearly 40 years of experience in the commercial real estate industry and has played an integral role in many of the major real estate developments in Connecticut over the last half-century. He has handled a broad range of real estate transactions, including commercial leasing, sales, acquisitions, developments, joint ventures and financings.

As a seasoned practitioner, Jon provides sophisticated legal representation to a variety of commercial real estate clients at the local, regional and national levels, with a particular concentration in the northeast. Clients range from real estate funds, real estate developers, Fortune 100 companies, investment banks, privately held businesses, educational institutions and family offices to private equity firms, hedge funds and venture capital firms.

As a member of the firm’s Corporate & Finance Group, he has represented companies in connection with various corporate matters, including asset sales and acquisitions, marketing, technology and other licensing agreements, joint ventures, and numerous commercial finance, franchise and contract engagements. He also works closely with the Private Clients Group in serving as a fiduciary and advisor to several families with respect to substantial trusts and estates matters.

In addition to managing his legal practice, Jon served as Firm-wide Chairman and Managing Director of Cummings & Lockwood from 2003 through 2021.

Jon has been consistently ranked among “The Best Lawyers in America” by Best Lawyers® since 1999. He has also been recognized among Connecticut and New England Super Lawyers and is rated AV Preeminent®, the highest legal and judicial peer rating standard for legal expertise and professional ethics awarded by Martindale-Hubbell.

He is a Life Fellow of the Connecticut Bar Foundation and has authored numerous articles on commercial real estate law.

Throughout his career, Jon has been actively involved in many philanthropic organizations. Until recently, he served on the Board of the African Parks Foundation of America, and is a former Board Member of the HSBC Bank Regional Advisory Board, Norwalk Community College Foundation, Stamford Symphony Orchestra, USO of Metropolitan New York, United Way, and the March of Dimes.

Jon received his J.D. from the University of Connecticut School of Law and his A.B. from Princeton University.