Michael A. Fenton

• Business Organizations
• Commercial and Tax-Exempt Finance
• Elder Law
• Estate Planning
• Exit Planning for Business Owners
• Not-For-Profit
• Real Estate and Land Use

Attorney Michael A. Fenton focuses his practice in the areas of commercial real estate, business planning, commercial finance and estate planning.

Mr. Fenton represents principals in business formation and succession planning, businesses in the purchase and sale of enterprises, lenders and borrowers in commercial financing transactions, developers in the acquisition and permitting of projects, and individuals in establishing comprehensive and sophisticated estate plans. As an attorney with background in tax and a master’s degree in business administration, he provides added value to clients with business planning concerns. In addition, Attorney Fenton has extensive land use experience that includes zoning, subdivision, project permitting and environmental matters. A significant part of his practice revolves around estate planning. He also develops sophisticated estate plans to facilitate access to public services and the preservation of assets.

• Represent physicians in sale of medical practice and surgical center (1M+)
• Counsel to national distributor, international retailer, and national IT company regarding expansion plans, commercial finance, general corporate matters, and business succession planning
• Counsel to physicians and other health professionals relative to start-up of practice
• Counsel to seller in sale of business to multi-national foreign competitor ($1MM+)
• Counsel for seller in stock sale of company ($45MM+)
• Structure joint venture between multi-national food additive company and US distribution company
• Advise client regarding sale of business interests in over a dozen jurisdictions across the US (10MM+)
• Facilitate international tariff settlement for retailer (1MM+)
• Negotiate tolling agreement between manufacturer and supplier (6MM+)
• Counsel to retailers, accountants, insurance agents, doctors, service providers, restaurants, non-profits, distributers, educational organizations, healthcare institutions, and other commercial and industrial enterprises regarding company formation, contract negotiation and business planning

• Counsel to lender for Commercial Real Estate Mortgage and Line of Credit for borrower with defense contractor as primary tenant ($3MM+)
• Counsel to bank for Commercial Real Estate Mortgage and Bridge Note secured by state and federal historic tax credits ($3.5MM+)
• Counsel to lender for refinance of commercial shopping plaza ($15MM+)
• Counsel to lender for C&I credit facilities including revolving line of credit note ($5MM+)
• Counsel to bank relative to Commercial Real Estate Mortgage and related loans for acquisition and redevelopment of historic mill building ($15MM+)
• Counsel to credit union regarding various loans secured by residential investment property ($2.5MM+)
• Counsel to lender for credit facilities to enable borrower’s acquisition of 40+ unit apartment complex ($1.5MM+)
• Counsel to lender to finance borrower’s church construction ($1MM)
• Counsel to bank relative to Commercial Real Estate Mortgage and Bridge Note secured by state and federal historic tax credits ($1MM+)
• Counsel to various borrowers seeking commercial credit facilities

• Counsel national shopping mall developer relative to acquisition, permitting, and financing of major re-development ($40MM+)
• Advise developer of destination medical campuses on land use matters and tax incremental financing agreement ($1.5MM+)
• Counsel to commercial condo unit owner in negotiation of lease and resolution of dispute with condo association after attempt to prohibit the proposed commercial condo use
• Advise owner of industrial printing business regarding liquidation of commercial real estate and business succession plan
• Represent developer in acquisition of equestrian farm and related business
• Counsel to real estate developer in relation to land acquisition and development of shopping plaza ($5MM+)
• Negotiate commercial leases with businesses, individuals, municipalities, state agencies, utility companies, large scale solar photovoltaic developers, wireless telecommunications companies, federally recognized American Indian tribal governments, and other entities
• Counsel to land use petitioners seeking approvals before boards and commissions including Planning Boards, ZBAs, City Councils, Planning Commissions, Historic Commissions, Conservation Commissions and other regulatory agencies

• Draft estate plan for client with $50M+ estate and holdings across globe
• Advise client with taxable estate in Massachusetts regarding establishment of estate plan with QTIP trust to minimize estate taxes
• Advise clients with interests in closely held family businesses relative to estate planning matters
• Draft irrevocable trust with assets including vacation home, retirement assets, and investments for purposes of Medicaid eligibility and avoidance of creditors
• Counsel to client with Massachusetts taxable estate to facilitate complicated disposition provisions for charities and family members across the globe
• Counsel to beneficiary of irrevocable trusts worth ($50MM+)

• Western New England University School of Law, JD, 2012; Publishing Editor, Law Review; Oliver Wendell Holmes Scholar
• Western New England University School of Business, MBA, 2011
• Providence College, BA in Political Science, cum laude, 2009; Phi Sigma Alpha

• Massachusetts Bar Association
• Connecticut Bar Association
• New York Bar Association

• United States District Court, District of Massachusetts
• United States District Court, District of Connecticut
• United States Tax Court
• United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit
• Massachusetts
• Connecticut

• Lawyers Weekly, Go To Lawyer, Commercial Real Estate Law, 2023
• Western New England University School of Law Ascending Alumni Award, 2019
• Massachusetts Super Lawyers Rising Star Award, 2014 - 2023
• Lawyers Weekly, Top 25 Up & Coming Attorney in Massachusetts, 2014
• BusinessWest 40 Under Forty Award, 2012

• Hampden County Bar Association
• Massachusetts Bar Association
• Connecticut Bar Association
• American Bar Association
• Notary Public
• National Association of Bond Lawyers

• Western New England University School of Law, Adjunct Professor for Corporate Finance
• Western New England University School of Law, Center for Social Justice, Board Member, 2022–present
• Conservation Law Foundation, Legal Services Food Hub, 2024–present
• Springfield City Council, Councilor, 2010–present
• Springfield City Council, President, 2014–2016 and 2024–present
• Baystate Medical Center, Community Advisory Council, 2020–present
• 2020 National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ) Banquet Co-Chair
• MA Cannabis Control Commission, Social Consumption Committee, 2019
• Suit Up Springfield, Inc., Director, 2015–2016
• Save Cathedral High School, Inc., Director and Clerk, 2014–2016
• ROCA, Inc., Advisory Board Member, 2014–2016
• Cathedral High School Board of Trustees, Trustee, 2010–2013
• Mason Wright Foundation, Corporator
• Hungry Hill Community Development Corporation
• Junior Achievement

• Michael A. Fenton selected to the 2020 Massachusetts Rising Stars list
• Guest on the BusinessTalk podcast with George O’Brien, September 2, 2020
• Insureds Struggling to Cover COVID-Related Business Losses, Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, April 2020
• Attorney Michael Fenton Discusses Estate Planning on Mass Appeal, April 2020
• “Enforcement of Contracts During a Public-Health Emergency,” BusinessWest, April 2020
• Appointed by the Cannabis Control Commission to serve on its Social Consumption Advisory Committee, February 2019
• Presented to the Western New England University School of Law Business Law Association as part of a panel about what it’s like to work as a business law attorney, February 2019
• Attorney Michael A. Fenton of Shatz, Schwartz and Fentin, P.C., named shareholder with firm, January 2019
• Michael A. Fenton announced as finalist for the 2018 Continued Excellence Award
• Shatz, Schwartz and Fentin, P.C. attorney to speak to Judicial Youth Corps on June 29, 2018
• Michael A. Fenton selected to the 2016 Massachusetts Rising Stars list
• Are you Overpaying Import Tariffs?, BusinessWest, November 2015
• Shatz, Schwartz and Fentin, P.C. attorney to speak to Judicial Youth Corps students on June 25, 2015
• Attorney Michael A. Fenton selected to 2014 Massachusetts Rising Stars List
• “Medicare Coverage Problems,” BusinessWest, August 2014, (Co-Authored with Ann I. Weber)
• May 9, 2014 – speaker at a Hampden County Bar Association (HCBA) seminar about zoning permits
• March 18–21 2014 – speaker and participant in a four-day seminar by the Community Progress Leadership Institute (CPLI) at Harvard Law School
• “A Solar Boom in the Pioneer Valley,” BusinessWest, February 2014
• “A City’s New Hope for Market-rate Housing,” BusinessWest, February 2013 (Co-Authored with Ellen Freyman)
• “BIDs: the Rules Have Changed,” BusinessWest, January 2013