George Martin has served as managing partner of McGuireWoods’ Richmond office since 2009. He practices commercial real estate, construction and local government law. He has represented public and private entities on numerous real estate projects, including construction, acquisition and disposition of real property, and redevelopment and adaptive re-use.
Martin’s construction practice focuses on representing owners, design professionals, contractors and subcontractors with negotiating and drafting design and construction contracts. He has negotiated and drafted numerous construction-related agreements, including design-build, construction, construction management (agency and at-risk), design, program management, project management, and development agreements.
Martin has more than 30 years of experience handling public-private partnerships and project finance transactions. He has extensive experience negotiating and drafting comprehensive development agreements for public-private partnerships and has worked on bond financings to fund construction of these projects. He is also a member of the firm’s education law team, and has handled numerous education-related real estate and construction matters.
Throughout his career, Martin has been involved in firm management and has received numerous awards, including the American Jurisprudence Award in Administrative Law, NAACP/Black Student Alliance Image Award, John Jasper Trailblazer Award, Richmond Public Schools Foundation Living Legend Award, UVA Club of Richmond/Ridley Fund Trailblazer Award and Virginia Business magazine’s Legal Elite. He also received the Raven Society’s Lifetime Achievement Award; the Raven Society is the oldest and most prestigious honor society at the University of Virginia and the Lifetime Achievement Award is its highest honor. Most recently HomeAgain, a nonprofit organization serving the Richmond area that helps families and individuals experiencing homelessness obtain safe and affordable housing, honored Martin with the 2019 Ann and Don King Community Leadership Award. He is also a fellow of the Virginia Law Foundation (limited to 1 percent of practicing attorneys), and every year from 2008 to 2020 he has been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America for Construction Law, Municipal Law and Real Estate Law
In 2015, he was recognized by Savoy magazine as one of the Most Influential Black Lawyers in the U.S., and in 2014, he was honored at the Virginia Bar Association’s 124th Summer Meeting with the LexisNexis Award for Extraordinary Leadership and Dedication to the Legal Profession and Public Service.
In 2011, he was appointed to the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia. In 2012, his colleagues on the board elected him vice rector, and on July 1, 2013, he became the first African American to serve as the rector of the University of Virginia.