Dan McShane

With more than 20 years of experience, Dan McShane serves as chief strategy officer and general counsel for The McShane Companies. In his role, he coordinates strategic planning and risk management strategies while overseeing the company’s legal matters on a national basis and providing in-house legal advice to the firm.  

McShane began his career in the real estate department of Winston & Strawn, where he worked from 2000 to 2005. Joining The McShane Companies thereafter, he worked to manage legal and contractual risk for the business as it grew dramatically, both geographically and in revenue. Since he joined The McShane Companies, the firm has expanded with the opening of four new offices in Alabama, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin. He has also expanded the company’s legal department, hiring two new corporate counsels in the past three years.  

Guiding family ownership through the complexities of business continuity and estate planning, McShane successfully shepherded the transfer of ownership of the business to the second generation of family owners in a process that began in 2008 and only concluded in 2020. Throughout the pandemic, McShane worked with other senior leaders to craft policies and procedures that allowed his company to effectively safeguard the health of employees while continuing its in-person, on-site construction operations.  

The growing awareness of racial inequality that our nation experienced in 2020 led McShane, together with other company leaders, to redouble efforts to grow diversity within the company, and the industry as a whole. Driven by the values of family ownership, the business expanded its DEI-focused outreach, education, training, mentoring and philanthropic efforts in 2020 and 2021.  

McShane also acts as an industry leader outside of The McShane Companies. He has served on the board of the Chicagoland Association of General Contractors Scholarship Foundation since 2013, and as its president for the past two years. He was recently recognized for his accomplishments in the industry when he was named to Crain’s Chicago Business’ 2021 list of Notable General Counsels. 

These are some of the reasons that we named McShane to our Chicago & Midwest grouping of Lawyers in Real Estate. These are real estate attorneys who have distinguished themselves in both their practice and the larger community.