Who says commercial real estate lawyers don’t have any work to do? Morris, Manning & Martin partner Vanessa Morris [photo, right] has a billing invoice to prove otherwise. Morris has been involved with the sale of two large Atlanta-area residential complexes in the past month. Morris advised the lender on both deals, which have a combined value of about $73 million.

On the first sale, Morris’s client was Primary Capital Advisors of Atlanta, which acted as the lender on the $25.8 million sale of the Block Lofts condo building [photo, below] on Ralph McGill Boulevard. The Connor Group, of Dayton, Ohio, acquired the property from Principal Real Estate Investors, a unit of Principal Financial Group Inc. Thompson Hine partner Darrel Davison in Columbus, Ohio, advised Principal.

In the second transaction, Morris was adviser to CBRE Capital Markets Inc., a unit of CB Richard Ellis Inc., the lender on the $47.4 million sale of Post Properties Inc.’s Post Dunwoody development. Post Dunwoody is a 530-unit complex on Peachtree-Dunwoody Road that was completed over several phases in the 1980s and 1990s.

The Post Dunwoody property was assessed at $33,252,900 in 2008, according to the Fulton County Tax Assessor’s office.

King & Spalding associate Amber Murray took the lead advising Post Properties, with supervision from partners Clay Howell and Dan Heller and with participation from Post in-house counsel Joe Bartlett. McClure & Kornheiser partner Michael Kornheiser represented the buyer, Dunwoody Station Apartments LLLP.

An Atlanta company that makes software used to provide security to data networks obtained a venture-capital investment this month. 

Reflex Systems Inc. said that RFA Management Co. led a group of firms that invested a total of $8.5 million in the company. Morris, Manning & Martin partner Terresa R. Tarpley was counsel to Reflex Systems and Arnall Golden Gregory partner James E. Dorsey advised RFA Management, according to Reflex Systems. Dorsey could not be reached for comment.

Privately held Reflex Systems, based in Atlanta, was founded in 2000 and was formerly known as Reflex Security. RFA Management is also based in Atlanta.

Morris, Manning & Martin partner Carl Erhardt and associate Melissa Joyal advised a British company on its acquisition of a research group that conducts clinical trials for drug companies.

PHC Inc. sold its Pivotal Research Centers subsidiary to Premier Research Group PLC for $3 million, plus additional considerations that could push the total value of the deal to $5 million. The deal closed March 13. Erhardt and Joyal advised Premier Research.

Premier Research, based in the United Kingdom, conducts clinical research for drug makers and medical device makers. PHC, of Peabody, Mass., conducts business under the name Pioneer Behavioral Health and operates a dozen substance abuse-treatment facilities nationwide.

It may seem incongruous for a new luxury hotel to open during a time when companies are laying off workers and high-priced condos all over town remain unsold.

But a new hotel is, indeed, coming online in Atlanta in April. Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group Inc. of San Francisco plans to open Hotel Palomar on West Peachtree Street in Midtown. It will be Kimpton’s first property in Atlanta.

The Hotel Palomar will have 304 guest rooms, an in-hotel restaurant, in-room spa services and in-room bars with organic options. As with other Kimpton hotels, the Palomar will have goldfish available for any guest who gets lonely and needs a companion in his or her room.

The 21-story hotel is next door to the offices of law firm Drew Eckl & Farnham. The hotel is also, of course, located mere blocks from most of the city’s top-grossing law firms. Perhaps out-of-town lateral partners that are being recruited by Atlanta’s law firms will be put up in a room at the Palomar?

Morris, Manning & Martin partner Andrew Williams advised the hotel’s developer, Kim King Associates LLC of Atlanta, according to court documents. Williams has advised Kim King on other matters, including the Technology Square development at Georgia Tech in Midtown.

Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal partner Meghan Cocci in Phoenix advised Kimpton. Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell partners Christopher Hart and Jennifer Beer in Washington advised the primary lender, Capmark Financial Group Inc. Troutman Sanders partner Lewis Horne advised the Development Authority of Fulton County.

Morris, Manning & Martin partner Ward Bondurant and of counsel Stacey Kalberman worked on a deal that will combine two companies that provide professional liability insurance to lawyers and to doctors.

In the deal, ProAssurance Corp. of Birmingham, Ala. agreed to acquire Georgia Lawyers Insurance Co. for undisclosed terms. ProAssurance sells medical-malpractice liability insurance to doctors, physician practice groups and hospitals. Georgia Lawyers Insurance, based in Fayetteville, insures about 2,700 lawyers in Georgia, according to the company.

Bondurant and Kalberman advised Georgia Lawyers Insurance and its majority shareholder, Lawyers Mutual Liability Insurance Co. of North Carolina, on the deal, according to Bondurant.

After negotiating the deal on behalf of Georgia Lawyers Insurance, Bondurant and Kalberman then advised ProAssurance on obtaining regulatory approval from the Georgia state Insurance Commissioner, according to ProAssurance general counsel Jeff Lisenby.

Lisenby and ProAssurance in-house compliance counsel Katie Neville handled the merger negotiations with Georgia Lawyers Insurance, Lisenby said.

In a separate transaction, Burr & Forman partners Jack Stephenson Jr. and Jennifer Moseley in Birmingham are advising ProAssurance on its proposed sponsored demutualization of the PICA Group of Brentwood, Tenn., which provides professional liability insurance to podiatrists.

Lawyers from Morris, Manning & Martin’s real estate group advised a real-estate venture on its sale of an upscale golf-and-equestrian residential development in western North Carolina.

Ginn-LA Laurel Creek Ltd. LLLP sold the 6,200-acre property, called Laurelmor, last month to a subsidiary of Linger Longer Communities LLC for undisclosed terms. The Linger Longer subsidiary, Reynolds Signature Communities, intends to continue Ginn-LA Laurel Creek’s plans to continue the development of Laurelmor, according to a news release. The development’s re-launch is scheduled for the second half of this year.

Laurelmor is located 10 miles from Blowing Rock, N.C., and 12 miles from Boone, N.C., home of Appalachian State University.

Ginn-LA Laurel Creek is jointly owned by Ginn Development Co. of Celebration, Fla. and Lubert-Adler Partners LP of Atlanta, according to the Wilkes Journal-Patriot of North Wilkesboro, N.C., citing county property tax records.

Ginn sold the Laurelmor property as part of a restructuring agreement with lender Credit Suisse, the Winston-Salem Journal reported. The land transfer to Linger Longer was valued at $32 million, the newspaper said.

Morris Manning real estate partners Jeanna Brannon and Darla McKenzie and tax partner Cass Brewer advised Ginn-LA Laurel Creek on the sale, according to the law firm. Also, Morris Manning co-founding partner John G. “Sonny” Morris is listed as counsel to Ginn-LA Laurel Creek on Georgia Secretary of State records.

King & Spalding partner Clay Howell advised Linger Longer.

Linger Longer developed Reynolds Plantation on Lake Oconee south of Athens, Ga. Ginn’s development portfolio includes properties in Florida, South Carolina, Vermont and the Bahamas.

Morris, Manning & Martin partner Grant Collingsworth and DLA Piper partner Jeff Leavitt were counsel on both sides of a recent venture capital investment in an Atlanta technology company.

FTRANS Corp. last month obtained a $3 million venture-capital investment from three groups - Total Technology Ventures LLC, Greenhill SAVP and New Atlantic Ventures. All three groups had previously made investments in FTRANS, which stands for Financial Transaction Systems. FTRANS makes software for the financial-services industry.

Collingsworth was counsel to FTRANS on the deal, and Leavitt to the investor group, according to Collingsworth. Total Technology Ventures is an Atlanta outfit, Greenhill is based in New York and New Atlantic in Reston, Va. and Cambridge, Mass.

An Atlanta company that transcribes communications between doctors, hospitals and patients has expanded through the acquisition of an Ohio medical-transcription company. Lawyers from Morris, Manning & Martin worked on the deal.

Transcend Services Inc., of Atlanta, agreed to acquire DeVenture Health Partners of Canton, Ohio, for $4.25 million in cash, according to a news release. The deal is expected to close by Jan. 1.

Morris Manning partners Bernard Coleman [photo, left] and Sandy Smith were counsel to Transcend Services. Lensman & Associates in Canton advised DeVenture.

Lawyers from Hartman, Simons, Spielman & Wood and Sutherland are the legal advisers on the bankruptcy court-approved sale of a Georgia natural gas marketer.

Sutherland partners Tom Byrne and Knox Dobbins advised MXenergy Inc. on its agreement to acquire Catalyst Natural Gas LLC for about $2 million. Hartman Simons partners Sam Arden and Joe DeLisle were counsel to Catalyst on the deal. The sale has received approval from U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Joyce Bihary and from the Georgia Public Service Commission.

Catalyst, of Atlanta, filed for Chapter 11 protection on Oct. 1 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Georgia. Catalyst was a natural-gas marketing company that had served 34,000 customers in Georgia. MXenergy, of Stamford, Conn., provides natural gas and electricity in the U.S. and Canada.

In addition to the sales agreement, a host of Atlanta-area attorneys are advising clients in the Catalyst bankruptcy proceedings.

Jones & Walden partners Leon Jones and Denise Dotson are bankruptcy counsel to Catalyst, while Powell Goldstein partner Robert Mercer is legal counsel to the official committee of unsecured creditors to Catalyst.

Cohen Pollock Merlin & Small partner Gus Small is representing interested party Gas South LLC, which said in a court filing that it estimates that it’s owed about $1.5 million by either Atlanta Gas Light or by Catalyst. That debt is a result of Catalyst under-supplying the natural gas system shared by the state’s gas-marketing companies, Small wrote in a court filing on behalf of natural-gas marketer Gas South.

McKenna Long & Aldridge partners Gary Marsh and Craig Dowdy and associate David Gordon are counsel to creditor Atlanta Gas Light Co.

Rogers & Hardin partners Kimberly Myers, Tony Powers and Robert Remar are representing creditor Georgia Natural Gas, a unit of SouthStar Energy Services.

King & Spalding partner Paul Ferdinands is counsel to creditor SCANA Corp.

Morris, Manning & Martin partners Becky Patrick and David Rabin are counsel to Infinite Energy Inc. on litigation it filed against Catalyst. Hartman Simons partner David L. Pardue is defending Catalyst in the Infinite Energy litigation.

Scroggins & Williamson partners Robert Williamson and Hayden Kepner are counsel to interested party Constellation Energy Commodities Group Inc. McDermott Will & Emery partners Nathan Coco in Chicago and Robert Stephens in Houston are also advising Constellation Energy.

Three Morris, Manning & Martin lawyers advised apparel maker Boxercraft Inc. on a recapitalization.

MMM partners Sandy Smith and Bernard Coleman and associate Natasha Bell were counsel to Boxercraft, Smith said. Miller & Martin partner Jonathan Kent advised private equity fund River Associates Investments LLC of Chattanooga, Tenn., which provided the new financing. VRA Partners LLC of Atlanta was Boxercraft’s financial advisor. Terms of the recapitalization weren’t disclosed.

Boxercraft, of Atlanta, makes boxers, shorts, pants and shirts targeted to children and teenagers.