said. “We have 4,000 customers, so we do a lot of
leasing, a lot of renewals, a lot of acquisitions and
dispositions. Speed to market is very important,”
Nekritz said.
“ProLease gives us a strategic advantage when
dealing with customers that need us in a number
of locations. Our people in the field can generate a
draft lease while completing transactions with the
customers. They understand the ProLogis philoso-
acquisitions, tax, U.S. Securities and Exchange Com-
mission advice, more sophisticated transactions and
REIT issues. Linklaters of London assists with trans-
actions in China and throughout Europe.
We’ve expanded worldwide in a manner that is cautious
and extremely entrepreneurial.”
phy of leasing—what risks are appropriate for the
company, what risks aren’t and how to get deals
across the goal line. If we have a lease that we’ve
negotiated with Federal Express in Southern Califor-
nia and they want space with us in Baltimore, Md.,
we’ve really pre-negotiated the forms. The customer
gets into the space faster or gets to construction on
space faster. It helps everybody.”
The in-house legal team of 11 is widely dispersed,
with five attorneys in North America, three in Europe
and three in Asia handling acquisitions and dispo-
sitions, contributions to the REITs, financings and
leases.
In North America, ProLogis brings in Mayer Brown
for additional expertise on corporate, mergers and
worldwide in a manner that is cautious and extremely
entrepreneurial. The investor gets a very solid, low-
risk return on the asset.”
DAILY DUTIES
Nekritz sits on the five-member corporate executive
committee. “My job is to help set the strategic vision
and determine where we are today, where we want
to go in five years, do we have the right resources
throughout the company. A lot of that is setting the
tone of the company,” he said.
“I would say I am 75 to 80% business, 20 to 25%
legal. There is very little litigation and very little of
the employee issues that often take up a lot of the
time for a number of general counsels. It allows me to
PERSONAL
Nekritz and his wife, Wendy, a radiation oncologist,
have two children: Jessica and Matthew. “I play as
much basketball as I can and coach my kids’ teams,”
Nekritz said.
He and his siblings maintain the Felicia Beth
Nekritz Memorial Fund in memory of their sister,
who died of cancer in 1998. The fund, with donations
from family and friends, has purchased specialized
chairs for the comfort of people undergoing chemotherapy at the Ohio State University Comprehensive
Cancer Center, where Beth was treated. The fund
also has purchased chairs suitable for parents to
sleep in while visiting their children undergoing
cancer treatment at the Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago.
A BOOK AND MOVIE
Conspiracy of Fools, by Kurt Eichenwald, and The
Queen.
—PETER PAGE
An earlier version of this article appeared in The
National Law Journal on April 30, 2007.
