Corina Castillo-Johnson
Assistant General Counsel
Corina is an attorney in the Office of the General Counsel for the University of Texas System. She is an experienced collaborator and value-added team player with a proven track record of effectively working with stakeholders to assist her clients evaluate, acquire, sell, lease, plan, entitle, permit, finance, develop, manage and operate real property assets. She combines her experience in real estate and government to enable her clients to fully understand and navigate unique and complex business, community, and political interests impacting their development projects to produce positive results and benefits. Corina has structured, negotiated and completed a wide variety of real estate transactions ranging from several hundred thousand to one billion dollars in asset value and financing located throughout the United States from remote rural locations to urban city cores.
As former Deputy Chief Counsel to the Secretary of the Air Force, Corina's skill and proficiency in guiding public policy, government relations strategies, and counselling private and public-sector clients in effective public-private partnerships and economic development strategies culminated in notable and innovative developments for renewable energy, medical, education, national security, and technology industries. Corina was a "go-to" trusted advisor to leaders throughout the Department of the Air Force on the management of a nine-million-acre real estate portfolio.
During her time in private law firm practice in Florida and Texas, she represented some of the most active and prolific developers in the state. As project counsel, Corina has extensive experience in successfully negotiating and closing complex real estate transactions, and has managed all aspects of land use, development, and finance for a variety of projects including, transportation infrastructure, large scale master planned communities, multi-family housing, Developments of Regional Impact (DRI), Transit Oriented Developments (TOD), airports, hospitals and medical centres, golf courses, mixed-use developments, headquarters campuses, hotels and resorts, retail centres, office buildings, industrial parks, medical-education-technology clusters, and schools.
BA, University of Texas – Pan American, 1998
JD, South Texas College of Law, 2003
Executive Certificate in Energy – University of Texas, McCombs School of Business, 2013
Admissions
Texas State Bar
Florida State Bar
Work History
The University of Texas System, May 2020 - present
Norton Rose Fulbright, USLLP, August 2017 – March 2020
Department of the Air Force, Office of the General Counsel, June 2010 – August 2017
Broad and Cassel, LP (n/k/a Nelson Mullins), April 2006 – March 2010
Mateer Harber, LP, February 2004 – April 2006
Awards, & Recognitions
Top Attorney, San Antonio Magazine, 2020
Top Attorney, San Antonio Magazine, 2019
Department of the Air Force Medal and Award for Meritorious Civilian Service for outstanding service to the AF in the performance of duties in an exemplary manner, October 2017
Air Force Civil Engineer Center Director Coin in recognition of excellence in accomplishments, October 2017
Air Force Civil Engineer Center, Environmental Division Director Coin in recognition of excellence in accomplishments, October 2017
Director of National Intelligence Certificate of Appreciation for significant contribution and service, August 2017
General Counsel of the Air Force Coin in recognition of excellence in accomplishments, August 2012
Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force Coin in recognition of excellence in accomplishments, June 2011
Florida Super Lawyers, Law and Politics Magazine "Rising Star" Award Winner, 2009
Orlando Business Journal, "40 Under 40" Award Winner, 2008
Speaking Engagements
"ABCs of OZs: How to Establish Funds, Invest, and Build Deal Structures", San Antonio Opportunity Zones Conference Part 2: Structuring Investments, San Antonio, TX, January 29, 2019
"Driving Local Economic Development Through Federal Public Facility Projects", Federal P3 Conference, Washington, DC, November 27-28, 2018
DoD Lawyers Roundtable: "Legal Challenges with On-Site Renewable Projects at DoD Installations", Energy Exchange – Department of Energy, Providence, RI, August 10, 2016
Air Force Energy Leaders Panel: "Energy Resiliency", Association of Defense Communities, San Antonio, TX February 27-March 1, 2016
