Dentons, the world’s largest law firm, announces today that Chris Bennett has joined the Firm’s Hotels and Leisure practice as a partner in its Washington, DC, office. Bennett’s background in the areas of hospitality, real estate and corporate law meets the growing demand from hotel clients looking for assistance with their transactions and the operation of their businesses.

Bennett has long focused on the hospitality industry, providing counsel and representation to both global and US-focused hospitality brands, management companies, and hotel and resort owners and developers on real estate acquisitions and dispositions, joint ventures, management agreements, franchise agreements, licensing agreements, lender agreements, financing matters, leases, transactional due diligence, hotel-level contracts and operational legal matters. He was chief administrative officer, general counsel and secretary of Interstate Hotels & Resorts, Inc. from 1998-2014, and during his 16-year tenure, Interstate was the largest hotel management company in the United States, managing more than 450 hotels worldwide. Bennett has handled more than 800 management agreements and franchise agreements, and more than 30 US and foreign joint ventures.

“We are really excited to add Chris to our top-ranked hospitality practice,” said Rick Ross, chair of Dentons’ global Hotels and Leisure practice. “His presence on the East Coast complements our existing team in this important part of the country as well as enhancing our ability to interface with our clients and colleagues in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Chris’ transactional experience and in-depth knowledge of the hospitality industry makes him a valuable addition to our team. Just as important, he’s a great fit with Dentons’ culture and service acumen. Everyone on our team looks forward to working closely with Chris, and I am confident our clients will also enjoy working with him.”

Prior to joining Dentons, Bennett served as vice chair of his former firm’s hospitality and gaming group. He also served as chief diversity and inclusion officer of his prior firm where he led pro bono efforts, mentoring, client development training, and both firmwide and office-specific community outreach initiatives to promote a more diverse and inclusive workforce.

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