WILLIAM A. MANN

William A. Mann, Partner, Real Estate

A partner at Ragsdale Liggett PLLC, William A. Mann practices in the firm’s real estate department. Bill practices primarily in the fields of real estate lending, tax and entity structuring for commercial real estate, mergers and acquisitions, and international law.

Bill acts as counsel for sales to real estate investment trusts (REITs) and for developments such as privatized student housing facilities that are financed with tax-exempt bonds. He represents banks in connection with construction loans for commercial property. Bill helps clients form joint ventures or partnerships for the financing of all manner of real estate projects, including multi-family residential and mixed use projects, office buildings, hotels, shopping centers and multi-family housing.

Bill is a member of the American, North Carolina, and Wake County Bar Associations, as well as the North Carolina Bar Association’s and the American Bar Association’s Real Property and Tax Section. He belongs to the Christian Legal Society (CLS) and is listed in the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers, a directory of top legal professionals designated by their colleagues as preeminent in their field. Bill has also been admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Additionally, he has received a prestigious "AV" Peer Review Rating from Lexis-Nexis Martindale Hubbell, a rating which reflects the opinions of lawyers outside Bill’s firm as to his competence and ethics. An "AV" rating indicates a "Very High to Preeminent" legal ability rating and a "Very High" ethical standards rating.
After forming his own firm in 1976, Bill merged his practice with Graham & James, a 450-lawyer firm based in San Francisco with eight domestic and nine foreign offices. As the former managing partner of the Raleigh office of Graham & James, Bill has represented many international companies in corporate and real estate contexts. In 1994, Bill joined Ragsdale Liggett as head of the firm’s commercial real estate department.

Born in Los Angeles, Bill spent most of his formative years in Ridgewood, New Jersey. He attended Phillips Academy, in Andover, Massachusetts. Bill received his Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1965. He received his Juris Doctor from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1968 and was admitted to the North Carolina Bar.

Bill has served on the board of the Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED), which provides an interactive forum for entrepreneurs, investors, service professionals, academicians, researchers and public policy makers to create an environment in which entrepreneurship can flourish. In other civic and charitable work, Bill is active in several ministries in and out of his church. He does pro bono and 501(c)(3) work for foundations, nonprofit organizations, churches and ministries. He has had a part in forming two churches, one of which now has over 2000 members. Bill and his wife, Sis, have three grown children and five grandchildren. Bill’s oldest son, William H. Mann, Jr., is a high profile stock writer for Motley Fool, including Hidden Gems and Global Gains.