Eileen Scherlen Sommer
Eileen Scherlen Sommer has over 40 years of legal experience, focusing her practice on commercial real estate, business transactions, contracts, and commercial financing transactions. She is licensed to practice law in Texas.
  
A native of San Antonio, Texas, Ms. Sommer graduated under the Plan II Program from the University of Texas in Austin in 1978 (B.A., With High Honors) and remained in Austin to obtain her law degree from the University of Texas School of Law in December 1980 (J.D. With Honors). Previous to her practice with King & Sommer, PLLC, she joined the firm of Jackson Walker, L.L.P. in Dallas upon graduation from law school and became a partner of that firm in 1987.  Ms. Sommer relocated to San Antonio with the opening of that firm’s San Antonio office in 1991, where she remained until August of 2007.  Ms. Sommer co-founded the firm of King & Sommer, PLLC in August of 2007 and is one of its four managers.

Area of Practice and Expertise
Ms. Sommer has over 40 years of experience representing clients in various commercial transactions and business matters, including the acquisition, sale, financing, development, and leasing of commercial real estate (office, industrial, multifamily, retail, convenience stores and energy properties) and other assets (including airplanes, telecommunication towers, power plants and concrete plants). She is skilled in the preparation and negotiation of various contracts incident to the operation of a business and the development and ownership of real estate. Ms. Sommer also serves as local counsel on Texas law matters, including the issuance of legal opinions in financing transactions. 
 
Ms. Sommer is Board Certified in the area of Commercial Real Estate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.  She has been rated by her peers with the Martindale-Hubbell “AV Preeminent” rating, the highest rating for both skill and integrity.

Memberships, Community Involvement and Service

• State Bar of Texas Real Estate, Probate and Trust Law Section and Business Law Section
• College of the State Bar of Texas
• Texas Bar Foundation Fellow
• San Antonio Bar Association
• Bexar County Women’s Bar Association
• Past-president (2000) and current member of CREW-San Antonio
• San Antonio Greater Chamber of Commerce
• Real Estate Council of San Antonio​​
• Girls, Inc. of San Antonio (Secretary of the Board, 2009-2012)
• San Antonio Women’s Chamber (Board Member, 2000)
• 2021-2023 President, Alamo Mission Chapter, Daughters of the Republic of Texas
• Member NSDAR - San Antonio de Bexar Chapter
• Member of National Society of United Daughters of 1812, David Crockett Chapter

 
Recognition and Awards

• Named as a Top Attorney in San Antonio 2021 by San Antonio Magazine, as selected by her peers
  
• Named as one of San Antonio’s “Best Lawyers” by SA Scene magazine in the practice areas of Real Estate Transactions since 2007, Business & Corporate (2018), and Banking Law (2018), as selected by her peers
• Outstanding Lawyer, San Antonio Business Journal, 2015
• Featured as one of the "Wonder Women" among commercial real estate attorneys in San Antonio by San Antonio Business Journal, March 15, 2013 edition
• Eva Rosow Award of Excellence, CREW-San Antonio (2009)
• Co-recipient of Community Service Award, North San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, 2010

 
Publications / Speaking Engagements

• “The Texas SAFE Act and Other Issues Affecting Commercial Investment in Residential Real Estate” (June 18, 2010, Bexar County Women’s Bar Association Annual Retreat) (State Bar CLE accredited)
• “Tips to Avoid Breach of Contract in Closing a Real Estate Transaction - Draft the Contract to Suit the Deal,” San Antonio Lawyer, November - December 2008.
• “The Legal Opinion in Loan Transactions – The Role of the Opinion Recipient and its Counsel - Working Within Customary Practice” (March 23, 2007, Financial Services Roundtable presented by the Association for Corporate Counsel (ACC)) (State Bar CLE accredited) (March 23, 2007) (State Bar CLE accredited)
• “Construction Financing and the Construction Contractor’s Consent and Subordination Agreement – Not Just Boilerplate … The Contractor’s Perspective” (October 6, 2006, presented to the in-house legal staff of Zachry Construction Company) (State Bar CLE accredited)
• “Mandatory Renter’s Insurance Worth Landlord’s Consideration,” published by the San Antonio Business Journal, July 28, 2006 (co-authored with Josh Davin Morton).
• “The Ground Lease – An Alternative to Purchase and Sale” (June, 2006, presented to the real estate department of Valero Energy Corporation) (State Bar CLE accredited)
• “Crime on Leased Premises – Responsibilities of the Landlord, the Landlord’s Property Manager and its Leasing Agents” (presented to CREW-San Antonio, August 2000)
• “The Attorney’s Role in Real Estate Transactions and Closings” (University of Houston Law Foundation seminar on Real Estate Documents, Workouts and Closing, held in Dallas and Houston, Texas in June, 2000) (State Bar CLE accredited)

Office (210) 547-7484
Fax (210) 547-7480
esommer@kingsommer.com