John’s legal practice covers all aspects of real estate law. In addition to the usual array of commercial lending, commercial and residential sales and leases, title reviews, and other things all good real estate lawyers do, John also has a special focus on facilitating the development of large commercial and mixed-use real estate projects.

Having narrowly escaped a career in state politics, John enjoys facing the often-frightening regulatory environment of land use permitting; and John's past work as a developer gives him an insider's understanding of what it takes to get a project off the ground and shovels in the ground.

He has extensive experience representing local developers and regional development companies, from site acquisition and pre-development planning, through the permitting and development stages, to post-development leasing and sales.  

Prior to founding Fletcher, Selser & Devine, John was real estate counsel to a large Portland law firm. Before that, John served as General Counsel for Portland Global Advisors, LLC and as Legal Counsel to Governor John R. McKernan, Jr. during the Governor's second term as the state’s chief executive.

John is an avid golfer and tennis player. He spends a lot of time out of the office at "client meetings" for which these skills apparently are required (or so he tells the rest of us). When not lawyering, developing, golfing, or tennis-ing, John is often seen about town with his amazingly tolerant wife, Suzie, as they adjust to recently becoming empty nesters.   They also are learning that the term "empty nester" is rather misleading, as the nest is never quite as empty as they had envisioned.