Marissa Kaliman is a Partner at Kelley Kronenberg, focusing her practice on business and corporate transactions, commercial real estate finance, and regulatory compliance. She brings nearly two decades of legal and finance experience, helping companies develop and expand their businesses through hands-on, business-oriented solutions. 

Marissa counsels companies on commercial real estate transactions and mergers and acquisitions. She has worked as a title agent, handling real estate closings and has negotiated financing, acquisition, and lease agreements for national companies and investors.

She also counsels lenders in financing business and real estate transactions from origination and underwriting through loan documentation and closing. Her background covers both the business and legal sides of lending. As an analyst with one of the nation’s leading special servicers of commercial backed securities (CMBS) loans, she underwrote more than 50 multimillion-dollar loans and managed a portfolio of over 25 revolving commercial property loans valued at more than $250 million. She also reviewed and approved loan modifications, assumptions, and debt restructurings. She recently represented a national bank in a $30 million financing transaction. Marissa brings to each loan the perspective of someone who has underwritten the credit, managed the portfolio, and closed the deal.

Prior to joining Kelley Kronenberg, Marissa served as General Counsel and Vice President of Compliance for a highly regulated finance company. There she launched the legal department, established corporate governance guidelines, led multiple state examinations, and advised on warehouse loan closings and securitizations. She previously worked as Associate General Counsel for one of the largest independent car dealers in the country, where she served as lead counsel on financing, acquisitions, real estate transactions, and compliance matters. Earlier in her legal career, she was an associate at a boutique national firm, handling regulatory compliance and litigation for major financial service institutions. Before that, she represented executives in government investigations at a firm focused on corporate investigations and white collar defense. 

Marissa earned her Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and History & Policy with a minor in French, graduating with Honors from Carnegie Mellon University, where she served as President of the Spanish & Latin Student Association. She received her Juris Doctor from American University Washington College of Law, where she served on the Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law and completed internships with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, and United States Bankruptcy Court. 

She is fluent in Spanish and conversational in French.