Ballard Spahr LLP

Real Estate

Partner 

Emily Vaias is a real estate attorney with over 25 years of experience focused on zoning, land use, and real estate development.

Emily has worked on various projects in the District of Columbia and has guided large, complex, high-profile projects to completion in Montgomery, Prince George's, and Charles Counties in Maryland. She appears before zoning and planning boards and other administrative, legislative, and judicial bodies on behalf of local and national developers, commercial and residential builders, retailers, business owners, and individuals. She helps clients explore financing tools for development projects including tax incentive zones and PILOT agreements, and has worked on industry legislative groups monitoring proposed legislation related to development and Qualified Opportunity Zones.

Emily has worked on a variety of projects, including medical office buildings, hotels, senior housing, and transit-oriented projects. She has experience with mixed-use developments, retail shopping centers, multi-family developments, office complexes, historic building renovations, and single-family housing developments. She has been involved with building industry efforts to redraft Montgomery County’s Moderately Priced Dwelling Unit law and the Stormwater Management law in Prince George’s County.

Bethesda Downtown Sector Plan Implementation Advisory Committee, 2017-present; elected Co-Chair for 2019

Urban Land Institute, Washington District Council, Advisory Board; Regionalism Initiative Council, Planning Committee for Joint Regionalism/Housing Meeting 

Montgomery Housing Partnership, Golf Committee, 2016 and 2017

Apartment and Office Building Association of Metropolitan Washington, Legislative Committee, 1994-2013

Commercial Real Estate Women, Washington, D.C., and Suburban Maryland Chapters, 2014-present

Leadership Montgomery, Class of 1999

Maryland College of Art and Design, legal counsel, 1997-2003

Maryland Building Industry Association, 1993-present; Legislative Committee, 2019

Maryland State Bar Association, Delivery of Legal Services Section Council, 2001-2004; Co-Chair, Disaster Relief Committee, Young Lawyers 1998-2000; Co-Chair, Membership Committee, 1996-1998; Sixth Circuit Representative, 1994-1996.

Christmas in April, Montgomery County, legal counsel, 1994-2000

Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce, Career Day, 1999; Adopt-A-School Program, 1994-1998

American Planning Association, 1986-2000; Environmental Correspondent, Planning and Law Division Newsletter, 1994-1998

The BWI Partnership, Inc., Ad Hoc Committee on Clean Air, 1993-1996

Maryland Land Use Roundtable

Bar Association of Montgomery County, Golf/Tennis Outing Committee, 1994-1998

District of Columbia Bar Association

University of Maryland School of Law (J.D. 1992)

University of Cincinnati, College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning, (Bachelor of Urban Planning, summa cum laude, 1989)