Foley & Lardner LLP partner Lisa Glahn is profiled by Law360 for her recognition as a 2025 Construction MVP.
Law360 covers Glahn’s year guiding pivotal infrastructure projects for professional sports teams, her journey in construction law, what drives her, and guidance she offers to rising attorneys.
Reflecting on the past year, Glahn identified her work advising on major sports stadium projects, including for professional baseball and football teams, as her most significant achievement.
Glahn emphasized the satisfying complexity of these projects. “Beyond lawyers, there are insurance consultants, there are consultants on design, consultants on construction. There’s different ways to build these jobs, design build or design bid build.”
Drawing a comparison to the sports teams she represents, Glahn explained, “I look at myself as a quarterback, and I want to make sure the client has the right team on the field to help advance this.”
Glahn credits her direct communication style as key to her success helping clients navigate the many moving pieces of landmark infrastructure projects, as well as in deepening her relationships with clients.
“I think that’s really a pinnacle,” she said. “There aren’t a lot of stadiums that get built [because] there’s a set amount of infrastructure in this field.”
Asked why she chose construction law, Glahn said she likes to “understand how things work.” Her father worked in construction, so when she began practicing, construction law “felt like home.”
“In construction disputes, there’s a right and there’s a wrong,” she continued. “It’s usually determined through science, and I really enjoy that part of the practice.”
On advice for rising attorneys, Glahn recalled what she shared during a recent training she had with Foley’s first year associates.
“Welcome to the NFL, essentially,” she told them, reminding the first years that they are Foley attorneys because they are “incredibly smart and diligent.”
“But now it’s about mindset, and that’s what’s going to keep you going and get you on a path to success,” she added. “You have to want it. You have to bring a good attitude to it, and you have to be generous with your time, not just for those that you’re working for but [also] your other first years.”
(Subscription required)
