According to the 2017 Best Lawyers In America publication, Houston's real estate lawyer of the year is Jackson Walker partner Alfie Meyerson. His humble attitude may have something to do with it. If you ask him, the award is simply recognition for him being in the right place at the right time. It's much more complicated than that, especially during a tumultuous year in Houston real estate, and the recognition is well-deserved for a man with 32 years of practice.

Alfie started his career in the mid 1980s, initially drawn into the hype around the red-hot real estate market. Those early days felt like a celebration of Houston. Of course, it wasn’t long before most of that work turned into foreclosures, workouts and reading the fine print of personal guaranties.

His expertise and experience in commercial real estate evolved with the economy and grew with the success of his clients. At Jackson Walker, he splits his focus into three primary areas: commercial real estate lending and development, tenant rep work, and JVs between landowners and developers. Alfie reps both banks and borrowers for development, which he believes has provided him with a practical sense of perspective that helps get deals done — knowing the right questions to ask and, more importantly, the ones not to bother asking. In the past few years alone, he's been involved in 2M SF of office space leasing, and his JV work has picked up recently.

When he’s not working, you’ll typically find Alfie in burnt orange. He and his wife, as well as their three daughters and one son-in-law, went to UT. As a board member of Texas Exes and the UT Health Science Center in Houston, Alfie maintains his roots to the university.