A prolific contributor to the profession, Norma Williams has maintained a sophisticated transactional commercial real estate law practice in a small firm environment. She is a frequent speaker and author and has held leadership positions in major local, state and national real estate bar associations.
Ms. Williams has exclusively represented parties in commercial real estate financing, purchase and sale, and leasing transactions for her entire practice. She has worked on transactions involving all commercial real estate asset classes including shopping centers, office complexes, raw land, multi-family housing, industrial and medical properties, hotels, entertainment venues and mixed-use facilities. She has maintained an institutional client base involved in high profile and other transactions including corporate headquarters, bank expansions of branch network, acquisitions of initial, largest or iconic assets in geographical regions, portfolio sales of hundreds of millions of dollars of assets, tax credit financing for school and entertainment complexes and representation in mission-based shopping center acquisitions by sports and entertainment figures. She has also represented middle-market companies, entrepreneurs and high-net-worth individuals in numerous transactions. Often requiring more than one attorney, Ms. Williams’ practice model involves the use of associates, of counsel or contract attorneys with whom she has had long relationships.
Ms. Williams practiced in house with a national bank and with large law firms including Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison, Arter & Hadden and Reed Smith (formerly Crosby, Heafey, Roach & May) and has maintained the same level of transaction sophistication for the 30 years in her own private practices.
Professional Activities
Ms. Williams was the 2006-2007 Chair of the Real Property Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association and a 2007-2010 Trustee of the Association. She served on the Executive Committee of the Real Property Section of the State Bar of California. She is an active Fellow in the American College of Mortgage Attorneys where she is currently the Co-Chair of the Committee overseeing all State, Provincial and Territorial (Regional) Chairs. She is also a Fellow in the American College of Real Estate Lawyers where she is a member of the Member Selection Committee, and of the American Law Institute.
Ms. Williams is a frequent speaker on real estate law topics and has published over 60 articles or course materials. She chaired a blue-ribbon committee of the California State Bar Real Property Section that re-drafted California’s assignment of rents law (Civil Code Section 2938), a three-year effort that was later used as the model for the national Uniform Assignment of Rents Act (UARA). Ms. Williams also participated in the drafting of UARA.
Ms. Williams’ honors have included Lawdragon 500 Leading Global Real Estate Lawyers (2024 and 2025), Outstanding Real Estate Lawyer from the Real Property Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association (2023), the inaugural “Excellence in Practice” Award from the Solo and Small Firms Section of the California Lawyers Association (2019), “Outstanding Entrepreneur Award” from United States Small Business Administration et al ( 2016) and selection by Commercial Real Estate Women-Los Angeles as one of its “Women at the Top” (2011). She has been designated as a Southern California Super Lawyer since 2006.
A native of New York City, Ms. Williams received her B.A. Degree magna cum laude from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, where she was also elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She received her J.D. degree from the University of California, Berkeley where she contributed to the Industrial Relations Law Journal.
