Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP is pleased to announce that Howard Zweig has joined the firm’s Chicago office, where he will chair the firm’s new Higher Education practice. Zweig was previously at Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP.

Zweig advises higher education and nonprofit institutions in nearly all areas of law that these institutions encounter, from real estate to contracts to general business, operational and authority issues. One of the areas in which Zweig has significant experience is representing colleges and universities in public-private student housing transactions. He represented four national universities in projects for a 1,000-bed facility, a 900-bed facility, a 440-bed facility and a 325-bed facility, respectively. In his real estate practice, Zweig provides clients with counseling and representation in a wide range of real estate and transactional matters, including development, acquisition, sales and leasing; commercial mortgage loans; construction; and zoning issues.

“Taft is working with numerous education institutions, providing sophisticated legal services across the education spectrum,” Zweig said. “This is a great opportunity to bring together our multidisciplinary team to provide solutions that enable our clients to successfully meet the challenges of the constantly evolving education industry.”

“Howard has a deep understanding of the unique challenges facing educational institutions and is well respected by his peers. He is the ideal person to lead our new Higher Education practice,” said Cezar (Cid) M. Froelich, chairman of Taft’s Chicago office. “And his real estate experience with student housing complements our preeminent real estate team.”

Zweig has been an active member of the National Association of College and University Attorneys (NACUA) since 2001 and is a founding member and executive committee member of NACUA’s affinity group, the Higher Education Real Estate Lawyers. He has been named an Illinois Leading Lawyer in the areas of Real Estate Law, Commercial, Land Use, Zoning and Condemnation Law and an Illinois Super Lawyer in Real Estate. Zweig received his J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School and his B. Arch. from The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art.