Brian Schusterman

Practice Areas

Business Entities & Transactions

Real Estate & Land Use

Business Relocation to Nevada

Emerging Industries & Organizations

Career

Clients rely on Brian for his practical and thoughtful legal advice on a wide range of matters relating to their business and commercial interests. Brian serves as Co-Chair of McDonald Carano’s Business Entities & Transactions Practice. He received the highest AV Preeminent Peer Review rating from Martindale-Hubbell and the Lawyer of the Year award in Corporate Law for the greater Reno region from The Best Lawyers in America. Brian is also top ranked in Corporate/Commercial Law in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business.

Brian assists Nevada and Northern California companies with commercial business transactions, business formation and governance issues, financing transactions, real estate transactions and development, franchise law, and mergers and acquisitions. Whether Brian is representing one of his Fortune 500 clients or a small local company, his focus remains on providing his clients with efficient and effective solutions. Brian also regularly serves as local Nevada and California counsel for complex multi-jurisdiction transactions with Nevada and California corporate and real property components.

Representative General Corporate Counsel

• Serves as outside counsel to regional privately held petroleum company, generally providing advice on various transactional, corporate governance, real estate and operational matters.

• Represented a regional healthcare nonprofit as outside general counsel, providing advice on corporate governance, real estate and operational matters.

• Served as Nevada counsel to, and advised, a Fortune 500 gaming company on various issues related to corporate governance, real estate and development, securities offerings and financing.

• Acted as Nevada counsel to an NYSE listed financial institution generally providing advice on various corporate governance and securities issues.

• Served as Nevada counsel to a NYSE listed Canadian multinational restaurant chain in connection with its internal reorganization.

Representative Mergers & Acquisitions

• Served as lead counsel to a regional privately held petroleum company in its $30MM acquisition of the stock of another regional petroleum company and its related real property holdings.

• Represented a regulated regional consumer retail company in the sale of a division to a national wholesale and consumer retail company.

• Served as lead counsel to a regional healthcare nonprofit in its merger with, and acquisition of, the subsidiary of a national healthcare nonprofit.

• Represented a leading private equity firm in its acquisition of a Northern Nevada hotel and casino.

• Represented a large, privately held Nevada-based manufacturing company in the sale of its assets to a privately held national manufacturing company.

• Served as Nevada counsel to a mobile digital content provider in the sale of its assets.

Representative Financing Transactions/Offerings, Loan Workouts and Foreclosures

• Served as Nevada counsel to a Canadian-based private investment firm specializing in the metals and mining sector in connection with numerous financing transactions.

• Acted as Nevada counsel for a NYSE listed content and social media company in connection with numerous financing transactions.

• Served as Nevada counsel to a NASDAQ listed financial institution in connection with the negotiation and documentation of loan workouts, foreclosures and the disposition of Nevada real property collateral.

• Acted as outside general counsel to a Nevada subsidiary of a NASDAQ listed financial institution in connection with loan documentation, loan workouts and foreclosure and disposition of collateral.

• Served as Nevada counsel to the arranger and agent, a Taiwan Stock Exchange listed bank, in an ~$800,000,000 financing transaction.

• Represented a Fortune 500 gaming company as Nevada counsel in connection with several securities and debt offerings.

Representative Real Estate & Land Use

• Advised a Fortune 500 gaming company on the development of a condominium hotel on the Las Vegas Strip.

• Served as Northern Nevada counsel to a Fortune 500 homebuilder in connection with the development of large residential communities.

• Acted as Nevada real estate counsel to a Mountain West utilities company in proposed acquisition of a Southern-Nevada power company and its related real property holdings.

• Advised a NYSE listed oil and natural gas exploration and production company in connection with its Nevada real property holdings.

• Acted as Nevada counsel to a Canadian-based private investment firm specializing in the metals and mining sector in connection with its Nevada real property holdings.

• Advised a NASDAQ listed alternative energy company in connection with acquiring water rights for its facility in Southern Nevada.

Awards and Recognition

• Martindale-Hubbell – AV Preeminent Peer Review Rating (2024)

• Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business – Band 2 in Corporate/Commercial Law (2024)

• The Best Lawyers in America – Corporate Law (2021-2025), “Lawyer of the Year” (2024)

• The Best Lawyers in America – Real Estate Law (2020-2025)

• The Best Lawyers in America – Corporate Governance (2024-2025)

• The Best Lawyers in America – Mergers & Acquisitions Law (2024-2025)

• The Best Lawyers in America – Commercial Finance Law (2025)

• The Best Lawyers in America – Commercial Transactions/UCC Law (2025)

• Nevada Business Magazine – “Legal Elite/Top Rank Attorneys” (2013, 2015-2017, 2021-2023) and “50 Best Up & Coming Attorneys” (2012)

• Sanctuary for Families – “Excellence in Pro Bono Advocacy” (2006)

• King Hall Legal Foundation – “Public Interest Fellow” (2002)

Publications

• Feature Story Interview – “Mergers & Acquisitions: Less Harrowing, More Helpful in Reality Than in Popular Fiction,” Nevada Business Magazine, November 2024

Professional Affiliations and Community Engagement

• Director, Truckee Trails Foundation

• Director, Fresh Start Charities

• Member, Washoe County Bar Association

• Member, Tahoe Truckee Bar Association

• Member, Truckee Donner Chamber of Commerce

• Graduate, Leadership Reno-Sparks, Chamber of Commerce, Class of 2012 (nine-month program on communication, developmental organization, and community participation)

Professional Memberships

• Director, Truckee Trails Foundation

• Director, Fresh Start Charities

• Member, Washoe County Bar Association

• Member, Tahoe Truckee Bar Association

• Member, Truckee Donner Chamber of Commerce

• Graduate, Leadership Reno-Sparks, Chamber of Commerce, Class of 2012 (nine-month program on communication, developmental organization, and community participation)