Marisa Bocci is a partner in the firm's Real Estate practice. She works on a range of real estate transactional matters, including purchase and sale agreements, joint venture arrangements, and leasing. Her practice focuses on hotel and resort properties, commercial real estate assets, agriculture and agribusiness matters, and natural resource investment activities. Marisa advises asset managers and institutional investors on direct investing, co-investments, joint ventures, and other investment strategies relating to real assets in a variety of sectors. A number of Marisa's matters include the purchase or sale of real estate portfolios, whether in multiple serial transactions or in a single large-scale multi-property transaction.
Marisa's hospitality industry experience includes the purchase and sale of hotel properties, particularly in the luxury or full-service sector. She also works on matters relating to the golf and restaurant sectors, including negotiation of restaurant operation agreements with high profile chefs. In addition to transactional work, she also advises on asset management issues relating to operations and handles negotiations with management companies, procurement services, and consulting and co-branding arrangements.
In the agriculture sector, Marisa has specific experience in matters relating to agribusiness investments. She handles transactions across the country involving the purchase, sale, leasing and financing of farmland, often on behalf of family office, pension fund, investment management, and private equity clients. Further, she advises clients on operational issues specific to the food packing and processing industry, including supply chain, labor, and AgTech matters. In addition, she also advises clients on agribusiness-related M&A transactions. Marisa regularly speaks and writes on agribusiness topics, and co-authors a subscription-based newsletter covering US legislative affairs and government programs specific to the agribusiness industry.
Marisa works on wind, solar, mineral, and timber portfolio matters for her institutional investor clients. Some of these activities are in conjunction with other agribusiness operations; others are standalone natural resource investments. She advises on water infrastructure projects, water rights dispositions and acquisitions (including trust arrangements), and private water share or water utility district arrangements. Of special interest, Marisa often advises clients on their Bureau of Reclamation water arrangements. Marisa works closely with natural resource investor clients on their sustainability initiatives and ESG-guided operational policies.
In her commercial real estate practice, Marisa advises both corporate and non-profit clients on their real estate needs, helping them manage their real estate facilities. She advises universities, churches, hospitals, and arts organizations on real estate purchase, sale, leasing, construction, financing, and joint venture matters. In the business sector, she assists national and international companies with their real estate portfolio needs, including purchase and development of greenfield manufacturing, R&D, and warehouse facilities.
A significant number of Marisa's matters involve foreign investment in U.S. real estate assets, particularly agricultural properties (timber, cropland, rangeland). She advises clients on federal and state foreign and corporate ownership regulations regarding ownership and operation of agricultural property, including analysis of pending state and federal legislation. She also assists clients with their AFIDA and state-analogous disclosure filings, including work on behalf of clients with the U.S. Department of Agriculture regarding compliance matters. Marisa co-authors the REBO Quarterly, a publication for clients that provides insights and analysis of federal and state regulations specific to real estate and beneficial ownership.
Prior to joining the firm, Marisa was in-house counsel for a private client asset management and investment firm. Previously, Marisa was a real estate lawyer at a national law firm in New York. Marisa is certified in Legal Project Management by the LPM Institute.
- Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America® 2024 for Real Estate Law in Seattle, 2024
- Recognized by Chambers USA for Real Estate since 2018
- Named to the Washington Super Lawyers Rising Stars list, 2016
- Certification, Sustainable Capitalism and ESG Online, Berkeley Law Executive Education, July 2021
- American Agricultural Law Association, Board Member
- Presenter, Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act: Reporting Requirements, Avoiding Unintentional Violations , StraffordPub, 11 January 2024
- Presenter, Regulatory, Rules and Requirements Revisited: Part II of a Discussion on Requirements Applicable to Foreign and Domestic Purchasers of US Agricultural Property, American Agricultural Law Association Annual Agricultural Law Symposium, November 2023
- Panelist/Speaker, Restrictions on Foreign Investments in US Agricultural Land – Potential Repercussions for the Timberland Sector, World Forestry Center 2023 Who Will Own the Forest?, 28 September 2023
- Panelist/Speaker, Agricultural Leases: Unique Terms, Drafting Considerations, and Pitfalls for Landlords and Tenants, StraffordPub, 31 August 2023
- Presenter, Anti-Money Laundering and International Investment Considerations for Your Practice, ALI Modern Real Estate Transactions, January 2023
- Presenter, What Leasing Lawyers Should Know about Acquisitions, What Acquisition Lawyers Should Know about Leasing, and What Leasing and Acquisition Lawyers Need to Know about Lender Concerns, ALI Modern Real Estate Transactions, January 2023
- Presenter, Acquisitions and Dispositions: What is Market?, ALI Modern Real Estate Transactions, January 2023
- Presenter, Restrictions, Reportings and Rules: The Regulatory Landscape Applicable to “Foreign” and Corporate Owners and Lessees of U.S. Agricultural Land, American Agricultural Law Association Annual Agricultural Law Symposium, November 2022
- Presenter, Farm and Agribusiness Purchase and Sale Transactions: Key Legal Issues for Buyers and Sellers, Strafford Webinar, September 2022
- Presenter, ESG 101 and Why It Matters to Agribusiness, North Carolina Chamber of Commerce, Ag Allies Webinar, 25 May 2022
- Presenter, Farmland As An Investment Class – Pitfalls and Opportunities, Young Presidents' Organization (Webinar), January 2022
- Presenter, Farmland Auctions: Working with Brokers and Property Managers to Sell (or Buy) the Farm, American Agricultural Law Association Annual Agricultural Law Symposium, November 2021
- Presenter, Bureau of Reclamation and RRA Backgrounder, American Agricultural Law Association Annual Agricultural Law Symposium, November 2021
- Presenter, Common Closing Disputes, Law Seminars International Presents: The 26th Annual Advanced Conference on Advanced Real Estate Purchases & Sales, April 2021
- Presenter, Specialty Leases: Five Types, Five Takeaways, ALI CLE Modern Real Estate Transactions Conference, February 2021, (Webinar)
- Presenter, Purchase and Sale Agreements Part 1: Drafting and Executing Your Next Agreement, ALI CLE Modern Real Estate Transactions Conference, February 2021, (Webinar)
- Presenter, ESG: Legal Perspectives on Responsible Farmland Ownership and Operations, American Agricultural Law Association 2020 Annual Agricultural Law Symposium, November 2020 (Webinar)
- Presenter, Farmland: Real Estate Transactions in the Agribusiness Sector, ALI CLE Modern Real Estate Transactions Conference, February 2020, Phoenix, AZ
- Presenter, Cannabis and Landlord Considerations, ALI CLE Modern Real Estate Transactions Conference, February 2020, Phoenix, AZ
- Presenter, Protections for Landlords and Lenders When Working with Hemp Growers, American Agricultural Law Association Webinar, December 6, 2019
- Moderator, No Bull: Monetizing the Environmental Attributes of Dairy Gas, Ag Waste, and Renewable Energy Projects on Farmland, American Agricultural Law Association Education Symposium, November 9, 2019, Washington, D.C.
- Presenter, Farm and Agribusiness Purchase and Sale Transactions: Key Legal Issues for Buyers and Sellers, Strafford Webinar, September 24, 2019
- Presenter, Wetlands & Water: How to Avoid Drowning in Red Tape, American Agricultural Law Association 2018 Annual Agricultural Law Symposium, October 2018, Portland, OR
- Moderator, How the New Tax Bill will Impact the Agribusiness Sector, K&L Gates Webinar (CLE), January 23, 2018, Seattle, WA
- Presenter, Foreign Investment Considerations in U.S. Farmland, American Agricultural Law Association 2017 Annual Agricultural Law Symposium, October 2017, Louisville, KY
- Panelist, Ask Me Anything: Agricultural Law Panel, Women in Agribusiness Summit, September 2017, Minneapolis, MN
- Presenter, Reclamation Water Rights and Farm Transactions, Washington State Bar Association, 2017 Real Property, Probate and Trust Section Midyear Meeting & Conference. June 2017, Walla Walla, WA
- Moderator, Institutional Investment Opportunities in U.S. Farmland, Global Agricultural Investment Conference, April 2017, New York, NY
- Presenter, The Infrastructure of Hotel Ownership & Responsibility: The Stakeholders in the Operations of a Hotel Property, Global Travel Risk Summit (Seattle), February 2017, Seattle, WA
- Presenter, Mergers and Acquisitions: When the Farm or Agribusiness Are Up for Sale, American Agricultural Law Association 2016 Annual Agricultural Law Symposium, October 2016, Oklahoma City, OK
- Moderator, Farm Labor Matters, American Agricultural Law Association 2016 Annual Agricultural Law Symposium, October 2016, Oklahoma City, OK
- Presenter, Farm Leases: Tips and Topics to Consider When Drafting Lease Agreements - Washington State Bar Association CLE, April 2016, Seattle, WA
- “Complying With FinCEN’s Beneficial Ownership Reporting Rules Under the Corporate Transparency Act,” Real Estate Finance Journal, Winter 2023
- “Compliance Primer: Foreign Investment In US Real Property,” Law360, 27 October 2023
- Farm Leases: Twelve Important Things to Consider, ALI-CLE publication The Practical Real Estate Lawyer, July 2021
- Growing Opportunities In The Carbon Field For Agriculture And Forestry, Power, Environment, Land, and Natural Resources Alert, October 2020
- Real Property Practice Tip: Don’t Be Misled By the Title - The Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 Applies to More Than Just Agricultural Transactions, by Marisa Bocci, Eric Jay and Kari Larson, WSBA Real Property Probate & Trust Newsletter, Winter 2017
- Unmanned Aircraft and Agriculture - Legal Issues for Landowners, by Rod Hall, Marisa Bocci, James Insco, Tom DeCesar and Paulina Wu - WSBA Real Property Probate & Trust Newsletter, Spring 2016 (Vol. 43, Number 1)
