Team Photos & Biographies

Barry L. Groce
Managing Partner
(503) 412-3501 Direct
Contact Barry

Barry represents a wide variety of clients, from small businesses and individuals to multinational corporations in the areas of commercial leasing, technology licensing, and the purchase and sale of businesses and real property. Barry regularly represents both landlords and tenants in the drafting, interpretation and enforcement of commercial leases. Barry also devotes part of his practice to commercial dispute resolution. Barry joined McEwen Gisvold in 1993 and has been the firm's managing partner since 2004. Prior to joining McEwen Gisvold, Barry was an associate and partner in Allen, Kilmer, Chenoweth Voorhees & Laurick. Barry also served as Corporate Counsel for Union Pacific Railroad Company from 1980 to 1989.

Representative Transactions
For the past ten years Barry has negotiated and drafted leases for a pension fund owning Class A office buildings and retail shopping centers located throughout the United States. Barry also represents a major insurance company owning retail shopping centers in the western United States. In addition to drafting leases, Barry provides property managers and owners, both large and small, with advice regarding lease interpretation, review of agreements ancillary to property ownership and strategic advice regarding enforcement of leases and other contracts. Barry recently helped a small office park developer enforce a long term lease with its anchor tenant, a national health care company.

Barry's practice also involves the acquisition and sale of real property and businesses. From the sale of an individual's investment property or small businesses to disposition of assets of multi-million dollar corporations, Barry provides his clients with expert advice, negotiation and drafting skills. Barry recently assisted a Fortune 100 company in the asset sale of one of its technology subsidiaries.

Barry also frequently provides assistance to his clients in the areas of negotiating and drafting product distribution agreements, intellectual property licenses, operating agreements and technology development agreements.

For over twenty years Barry has represented clients in a wide variety of commercial disputes in state and federal courts and in private arbitration proceedings. Barry recently conducted an arbitration on behalf of a building owner to force an industrial tenant to replace the property's parking area as required by the lease. He also successfully defended a digital security company in a $2.5 million lease dispute. His experience in litigating leases and contracts gives Barry a practical approach to assisting his clients in documenting their transactions.

Education
Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley (J.D. 1980)
University of California, Berkeley (Masters of Public Policy 1979)
University of California, Berkeley (B.A. 1976; Political Science/Economics)

Admitted to Practice
Oregon (1980)
U.S. District Court, District of Oregon (1981)
9th Circuit Court of Appeals (1983)
Washington (1986)
U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington (1988)

Professional & Community Activities
Barry is an active member of the Oregon State, Washington State and Multnomah County Bar Associations. He was a contributing author of the 2002 Supplement of the Federal Civil Litigation in Oregon (Oregon CLE). Barry serves on the Board of Directors of Sockeye Magazine, a forum for discussion on Northwest public policy issues, and volunteers as a SMART reader.

Barry recently wrote a guest column in the Portland Business Journal on leases for small business owners.  You can read it here.