Gregory A. Cross
Partner
Greg has served as lead counsel for the largest commercial mortgage-backed security (CMBS) workout in U.S. history. He has also tried numerous cases involving issues of first impression for the CMBS industry in courts throughout the country, including the U.S. Supreme Court.
Greg is an aggressive, results-oriented advisor who understands client needs in negotiations and disputes. His combination of business and trial experience allows him to effectively handle all aspects of business litigation and workouts. His thoughtful strategies and deep understanding of complex financial structures and commercial real estate make him an invaluable counsel for both creditors and debtors in today's economic environment. His work includes:
- Serving as lead counsel for the largest workouts in U.S. history for each type of commercial real estate asset—multifamily, office, hospitality, and retail
- Defining through multiple litigations the rights and obligations of parties to CLO, CDO, and CMBS structures
- Successfully litigating some of the country's leading CMBS "repurchase" claims
- Litigating and defining the rights of competing lenders in a structured finance capital stack
- Overseeing fraud investigations and concurrent litigation involving complex international asset transfers
- Preparing fraudulent conveyance, denial of discharge, and other records supporting bankruptcy-related criminal convictions
- Confirming one of the few successful bankruptcy restructures of a financial services firm
- Serving as lead lenders' counsel in the largest real estate bankruptcy case in the United States
- Advising and developing training programs on commercial real estate litigation and workouts
Related Practices
Experience
Experience
Representative Matters
- Defended a $5.6 million district court judgment against Saks Fifth Avenue arising from its breach of a lease guaranty
- Served as lead trust counsel in connection with all aspects of the litigation, workout, and sale of the $5.8 billion Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village loan
- Litigation counsel for the Starrett City acquisition
- Served as coordinating counsel for all secured debt in the General Growth Properties bankruptcy case, restructuring $14 billion of secured debt
- Served as lenders' counsel in the Extended Stay Hospitality bankruptcy and fashioned a sale that permitted Venable's client to recover 95% of its $4.1 billion claim
- Represented entertainer Michael J. Jackson in the out-of-court restructuring of his assets
- Represented the state of Maryland in the bankruptcy involving the Preakness Stakes
- Served as debtors' counsel in the Thornburg Mortgage bankruptcy case
- Organized the WaMu Bank Committee of Equity Holders
Representative Clients
- CWCapital Asset Management LLC
- C-III Asset Management LLC
- The Estate of Michael J. Jackson
- Fortress Investment Group LLC
- LNR Partners
- Dermot Company
- Starwood Capital Group
- Brooksville Company
- Rialto Capital Advisors LLC
- K-Star Asset Management LLC
Insights
Insights
Credentials
Credentials
Education
- J.D. University of Virginia School of Law 1987
- Virginia Trial Lawyers Advocacy Award
- B.A. magna cum laude Dickinson College 1984
- Phi Beta Kappa
- Charles A. Dana Scholar
- William E. Bittle Economic Scholar
Bar Admissions
- Maryland
- New York
- District of Columbia
Court Admissions
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Clerk Experience
- Honorable Lawrence F. Rodowsky Maryland Court of Appeals 1987 - 1988
Professional Memberships and Activities
- Policy committee chair and board member, Commercial Real Estate Finance Council
- Member, American College of Real Estate Lawyers
- Member, American Bar Association
- Member, Federal Bar Association
- Member, Maryland State Bar Association
- Member, Baltimore City Bar Association
- Member, Defense Research Institute
- Member, Maryland Association of Defense Trial Counsel
- Member, Baltimore City LEADERship class, 2002
Recognition
Recognition
- Super Lawyers, Maryland, 2009 – 2018, 2020 – 2023
- The Best Lawyers in America, 2012 – 2025
- Lawyer of the Year, Litigation – Bankruptcy, 2020
- Chambers USA, Bankruptcy/Restructuring (Band 1), Maryland, 2017 – 2024
- Law360, MVP, 2014
- The American Lawyer, Dealmaker of the Year, 2010
- Baltimore SmartCEO, Legal Elite, Maryland, 2006, 2008
- Martindale-Hubbell, AV® Peer Review Rated
Community
Community
Volunteerism
- Board member, Greater Baltimore Committee
- Board member, NAMI of Metro Baltimore
- Board member, Maryland Zoo
- Former board member, Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore
- Immediate past chair, Judicial Nominating Commission for Baltimore City
- Former board member, YMCA of Central Maryland
- Member, Baltimore Mayor's Charter Review Commission
- Former trustee, Maryland Affordable Housing Trust
- Past president, Gibson Island Corporation and Gibson Island Club