Rachael B. Skigen

Senior Attorney

Rachael’s practice is focused primarily on luxury fashion retail agreements, franchise agreements, and commercial real estate matters from both the landlord and tenant perspectives.

Rachael Skigen Portrait

Clients describe Rachael as a trusted partner who provides passionate, professional guidance, and excellent support while often dealing with challenging situations and last minute deadlines. They praise her focus, insightfulness, and forward-thinking strategy and direction, as well as her discretion, professionalism, and passion. For the firm’s Fashion & Retail industry group, she is the lead attorney handling luxury fashion retail agreements (inclusive of boutiques, concession and pop-ups, outlets, event engagements and related sales) and commercial office spaces for global clients including but not limited to Boggi Milano, OTB entities (Diesel, Maison Margiela, Marni and Jil Sander), Alexander Wang, Lacoste, Gucci, Christopher John Rodgers, Malbon Golf  and APP Group (Mackage).  As a front-line negotiator, Rachael uses her past experience working in-house to look beyond the immediate transaction and to ensure that her clients’ medium and long term needs are addressed, and is often the first in-line contact for both brand development and company executives through transitional periods, providing general corporate and strategic advice.

Alongside her fashion & retail work, Rachael continues to expand her commercial representation for clients including Logoplaste, WWF, Starr Insurance Holdings, as well as in environmental compliance and due diligence for telecommunications and tower/site acquisitions. Rachael’s most recent representations include:

Fashion & Retail

  • Integration of European fashion house Boggi Milano into the US Market, with their first US flagship locations in NYC, inclusive of Soho, Madison Avenue and Columbus Circle.
  • Negotiation of retail leases for clients as anchor tenants within the Bicester Collection Villages/Value Retail’s inaugural US location in Belmont Park (Queens, NY).
  • Negotiation of flagship retail and office headquarters for prominent brands including APP/Mackage, Boggi Milano, Alexander Wang, and Lacoste.
  • Portfolio negotiations for fashion clients with major US and Canadian landlords including Simon, Macerich, Westfield, Tanger, Turnberry, Taubman and Brookfield properties.

Previous Work

Prior to joining ArentFox Schiff, Rachael worked as in-house counsel for a large telecommunications company. Although her primary practice focused on environmental risk management and preparing telecommunications and real estate agreements, she also advised internal business units on regulatory, marketing, and corporate social responsibility matters.

As lead attorney for both the business continuity and corporate social responsibility business units, Rachael’s focus on risk management ensured the availability of critical business functions to employees, customers, suppliers, regulators, and other entities during non-routine occurrences or threats. Her efforts in leading the company in the design and implementation of its sustainability program resulted in the company being named in Newsweek’s Green Rankings as #3 among America’s greenest companies.

Boards, Memberships & Certifications

  • Member of the American Bar Association.
  • Member of the National Bar Association.
  • Former Education Chair for Women’s Wireless Leadership Forum, a volunteer association for professional women in the wireless communications industry.

Life Beyond the Law

Rachael has a passion for family, the arts, and animals. She enjoys time her with husband and sharing her world with her two sons as they continue to grow and conquer their goals as young adults.  

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