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Stahl, Sewell, Chavarria, Friend & Cohen: The Commercial Real Estate Firm Built Around Texas’s Wind and Solar Boom

Most commercial real estate firms handle ground leases and property tax questions as a side matter. This Austin firm built its commercial real estate practice specifically around the ground leases, easements, and property tax abatements that renewable energy developers need — the firm states it has assisted in the development of more than 41 gigawatts of renewable energy projects, and three of its partners hold Texas Board of Legal Specialization certification in Commercial Real Estate Law.

Origin and Background

Stahl, Sewell, Chavarria, Friend & Cohen, LLP is based at 7320 N. MoPac Expressway, Suite 211, in Austin. The firm concentrates on commercial real estate, renewable energy project development, Texas property tax incentives, Texas state tax litigation, and corporate law, serving clients that range from Fortune 500 companies to closely held businesses and partnerships. Named partners include David J. Sewell, who joined the firm in 1999, became a partner in 2008, and a name partner in 2014; and Brent Stahl, who chairs the firm’s involvement in the UT-CLE Renewable Energy Law Conference.

Practice Concentration

Three of the firm’s partners — including David Sewell and Brent Stahl — are individually TBLS Board Certified in Commercial Real Estate Law. Sewell’s practice covers commercial real estate transactions along with the Texas tax issues that follow them, including sales tax, franchise tax, and property tax abatements tied to large-scale development. Stahl’s real estate work centers on long-term ground leases, purchase and sale transactions, development, easements, title, permitting, and mineral-surface estate accommodation agreements for energy infrastructure projects including data centers, battery storage systems, and solar and wind facilities. Other attorneys in the group, including Lisa Chavarria (a partner in the practice since 2009) and Alan Cohen, round out a commercial real estate bench built specifically around large, complex land-use transactions rather than routine residential closings. See this Austin Real Estate & Property directory for how this energy-focused boutique compares to general commercial real estate practices.

Notable Work / Track Record

As a transactional commercial real estate and energy practice, the firm does not publish a running table of verdict or settlement figures, and Awesome Attorneys did not identify one. The firm states it has assisted in the development of more than 41 gigawatts of renewable energy projects — a scale metric specific to its transactional real estate and energy work rather than a litigation results table, and one Awesome Attorneys was not independently able to verify beyond the firm’s own representation.

Client Voice

Awesome Attorneys did not locate a substantial sample of independent, platform-based consumer reviews for this firm; its public profile is built around Chambers USA recognition and long-standing Fortune 500 and multi-national corporate client relationships rather than individual consumer reviews, consistent with a practice serving institutional real estate and energy-sector clients rather than individual homeowners. Awesome Attorneys discloses this gap directly.

Beyond the Courtroom

Brent Stahl has co-chaired the UT-CLE Renewable Energy Law Conference for more than ten years and serves as Chair-Elect of the Oil, Gas and Energy Resources Law Section of the State Bar of Texas, where he also edited a 2025 nuclear energy law edition of the section’s report — professional leadership tied directly to the firm’s real estate and energy specialty rather than general community service.

Recognition for This Austin Real Estate Firm

David Sewell and Brent Stahl’s TBLS Board Certification in Commercial Real Estate Law was independently verified through their professional biographies; the firm states three of its partners hold this certification in total. Awesome Attorneys applies “specialist” language to the certified partners specifically on this basis. Chambers USA has separately recognized the firm’s corporate and commercial practice, offering particular expertise in real estate, energy, and tax law — a peer-review-based ranking Awesome Attorneys notes is distinct from TBLS board certification.

Texas Legal Backdrop

The renewable-energy ground leases and easements central to this firm’s practice are governed by Texas Property Code provisions on easements and surface estates, and large wind and solar projects frequently implicate Texas’s split-estate law governing the relationship between mineral and surface rights. Property tax abatements for these projects — another core part of the firm’s work — proceed under the Texas Tax Code’s economic development and renewable energy incentive provisions, which are separate from and more specialized than standard residential or commercial property tax law. None of this is legal advice; a specific real estate or energy-development transaction should be evaluated by a licensed Texas attorney based on the actual facts and property involved.

Awesome Attorneys Assessment

This firm’s clearest differentiator is a genuinely narrow specialty within commercial real estate: three TBLS board-certified real estate partners whose practice is built specifically around the land-use, easement, and property-tax needs of large-scale renewable energy development, backed by a self-reported 41-gigawatt project history. The honest trade-off is that this specialization cuts the other way for anyone outside that niche — a residential buyer or a small commercial tenant negotiating a routine lease is not this firm’s core client, and Awesome Attorneys did not locate an independent consumer review sample or verify the 41-gigawatt figure beyond the firm’s own claim. For a developer, landowner, or corporate client with a wind, solar, battery storage, or data center real estate matter, that specific concentration of TBLS-certified expertise is a strong basis for a shortlist.

Methodology and Sourcing

This profile was researched from the firm’s own website (attorney biographies for David Sewell, Brent Stahl, and the full attorney roster), a Chambers USA spotlight profile of the firm’s corporate/commercial practice, and third-party business-data aggregators (Crunchbase, ZoomInfo) documenting the firm’s practice concentration and Austin location.

Publisher Disclosure and Independence Notice

Awesome Attorneys is an independent legal directory and editorial publication. This profile was not paid for, commissioned, or reviewed by Stahl, Sewell, Chavarria, Friend & Cohen, LLP or its attorneys prior to publication. Awesome Attorneys may in the future offer sponsored placement products to attorneys and firms, including this one, but sponsorship has no bearing on the editorial content, inclusion, or findings of this profile.