Trish Voth Blankenship

Serving as Vice-Chair of Foulston’s Wichita Transactional Group, Trish Voth’s 27-year law practice includes two dedicated areas: (1) she heads up Foulston’s solar, wind, BESS, and electric energy practice; and (2) she is also a leader in the firm's real estate practice.

Typical Clients?

• Project and property developers, managers, investors, lenders, property owners, and leasing directors rely on Trish for practical, strategic legal advice, effective negotiation, and skilled agreement drafting. 
• In-house counsel and deal or national counsel routinely trust Trish to serve as local counsel or deal real estate counsel; to deliver Kansas insight, local law and custom advice, and opinions; and to outsource legal and diligence support.
• Counties and cities tap Trish for advanced support with land use-topics, proposals, regulation, and agreements.

Distinctiveness; Client Testimonials:

“We love working with Trish. She is knowledgeable about the politics and local opinion in the area and has creative ideas on resolving issues.” 

“Patricia is super responsive and solution-oriented.”

“Star Individual” is her most recent accolade as the only Kansas real estate or energy lawyer bestowed this highest-available lawyer ranking from Chambers USA, reserved for lawyers receiving exceptional recommendations from others. Trish has been ranked by Chambers USA for 18 years and by Best Lawyers for 15 years. At the national level, the American City Business Journals included her on a list of 100 Women to Watch in the United States, and Trish has presented on energy, real estate, and lawyer ethics topics during several national conferences. Trish is a coordinator with both Lex Mundi North America’s renewable energy group and American College of Real Estate Lawyers’ climate impact group. Further, at the state and local level, she regularly speaks and supports industry and legal education, including with the bar associations, commercial real estate groups, and the Kansas Association of Counties. 

Trish efficiently offers advice and solutions to clients—often on the spot without delay—because of her existing knowledge and experience from working in these areas for 27 years and knowing how the law and business have evolved over that time, along with her extra dedication to monitoring relevant local law, policy, and trends. That same experience and knowledge translate into valuable negotiation capabilities and helping clients prioritize issues and decisions. Trish’s range of experience includes:

Energy:

• Project site control, development, diligence, permitting, zoning, and other de-risking
• County and city regulation and ensuing agreements and permitting
• Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) opt-out filings; line siting regulation
• Property tax and exemptions
• Local and state incentives
• Project options, leases, easements, and rights-of-way
• Third-party cooperation, consent, and accommodation agreements
• Interplay with oil and gas leases, easements, lienholders, farming leases, hunting leases, government program contracts, and other coexisting real property interests
• Gen-tie and other electric transmission
• Environmental impacts
• Water rights use, transfer, and preservation
• Local and state subsurface storage regulation and rights
• Title and survey issues
• Project finance/equity investments

Real Estate:

• Development; land use, zoning, and other entitlements; and governmental approvals and incentives
• Platting, subdivision, annexation, and similar governmental land regulation
• Leasing, purchases, and sales of all types of real estate: commercial, industrial, investment, rural, and multi-family
• Easements, rights-of-way, and other property interests
• Title and title insurance issues; title insurance claims
• Options
• Financing
• Commercial and residential condominiums
• Owners’ associations
• Property management services and leasing
• Franchisor and franchisee unique property-related agreements and terms
• Eminent domain (condemnation)
• Business property electric and gas energy planning and acquisition
• Property taxation, tax exemption, and tax-deferred 1031 exchanges
• Agricultural and rural lands unique topics, including state anti-corporate land use law
• Oil, gas, and other mineral interests
• Water rights
• Real estate litigation and dispute resolution, including mechanic’s and other real property liens

To learn more about Trish’s capabilities and clients served, please visit our Renewable Energy, Storage & Transmission Practice and Real Estate Practice pages or review below for her relevant experience, professional information, presentations, and community involvement.

Education

• Washburn University (J.D., magna cum laude, 1998)
  Certificate in Agricultural Law
• Washburn University (B.A. in Public Administration, summa cum laude, 1995)

Admissions

• Kansas (1998)

• Real Estate
• Renewable Energy, Electric Storage & Transmission
• Energy
• Mergers & Acquisitions
• Business & Corporate Law
• Securities & Corporate Finance
• Administrative/Regulatory

• Real Estate
• Energy & Natural Resources
• Hospitality & Retail
• Agribusiness

• Inter Wichita FC Foundation (UPLS soccer), Volunteer and Past Host Family
• Sporting Wichita First Team (UPSL soccer, MLS academy affiliate), Past Host Family and Volunteer
• El Dorado Walnuts (collegiate baseball), Past Host Family and Volunteer
• Wichita Regional Chamber of Commerce Entrepreneurship Task Force, Past Member
• Goodwill Industries of Kansas, Past Board Member
• Greater Wichita YMCA, Past Andover Branch Advisory Board Member
• Andover USD 385 – Center for Advanced Professional Studies (CAPS), Mentor and Presenter; Key Communicator Network, Member; District-Wide Parent Legislative Council, Past Member; and Meadowlark Elementary School Site Council, Past Member
• Rotary Club of Andover, Past Member, Board Member, and Membership Chair
• Ronald McDonald House Charities of Wichita, Inc., Past Board of Directors – President, Executive Committee and Golf Tournament Fundraiser Committee Member
• Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Kansas Chapter, 2010 Woman-of-the-Year
• Wichita Regional Chamber of Commerce, Member
• United Way of the Plains Young Leader
• United Way of Ford County, Past President and Allocations Committee Chair
• Leadership Wichita, Wichita Regional Chamber of Commerce
• Leadership Dodge City, Dodge City Chamber of Commerce
• Park System Master Plan Steering Committee for the City of Andover, Past Member
• Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Harvey County and Shawnee County, Past Member
• Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Ford County, Past President and Founding Board Member
• Youth Entrepreneurs of Kansas, Volunteer Business Plan Advisor and Event Speaker
• Executive Women’s Golf Association – Wichita Chapter, Past President and Founding Board Member
• Wichita Business Journal's Mentoring Monday, Mentor

Solar, Wind, and BESS

• Represented project developers, project managers, local government, or landowners in more than 85 wind, solar, and BESS energy projects.
• Local counsel regarding many aspects of development, investment, and operations, as to an approximately 419-megawatt wind energy project spanning approximately 66,000 acres, including gen-tie longer than 35 miles.
• Special counsel to a County Commission and relevant County personnel evaluating and managing the proposal, construction, and commencement of operations of 650-megawatt wind energy project involving approximately 260 square miles with an estimated $531 million of state and local impact.
• Special counsel to a City Council and its relevant County personnel evaluating and managing the proposal of adding new BESS property uses to its existing zoning code.
• Special counsel to a County Commission and its County Counselor evaluating and managing the proposal of a wind energy project for the first time in that County.
• Special counsel to multiple County Commissions and/or their County Counselors advising on drafting options and best practices to update the County zoning codes regarding wind and solar energy generation.
• Special counsel to multiple County Commissions and/or their respective County Counselors of un-zoned counties evaluating available options for land use regulation related to renewable energy and related uses.
• Local counsel to multiple BESS developers assisting with procuring site control and land use rights.
• National renewable project developer’s local counsel regarding three proposed utility-scale solar and wind projects spanning four counties, including potential behind-the-meter offtake.
• National renewable project developer’s local counsel regarding five proposed utility-scale renewable energy generation projects spanning five counties.
• National renewable project developer’s local counsel regarding three proposed utility-scale renewable energy generation projects spanning three counties.
• National renewable project developer’s local counsel regarding $220 million 128-megawatt wind project.
• National renewable project developer’s local counsel regarding wind project across approximately 20,000 acres, planned to generate more than $140 million of revenue to landowners and the local public.
• National renewable project developer’s local counsel assisting with bioenergy project development agreements and local and state law and regulation.
• Local counsel to hydrogen developer exploring co-location with renewable energy generation.
• Landowner counsel to at least 50 landowners hosting multiple wind, solar, BESS, transmission, and carbon capture projects, many with acreage size significant enough to host the entire project or host a significant percentage of the project area. This ongoing work reflects many millions of paid and potential dollars for decades of new and diversified income to rural landowners and dates back to 2002, working on the second wind farm built in Kansas and now positioning for re-powering.
• Local counsel for national renewable project developer regarding approximately 200-megawatt wind energy project.
• Local counsel for an international renewable project development and management company regarding wind energy projects and potential development, including three projects totaling approximately 650 megawatts and approximately 180,000 acres.
• Representation of project development and management company reguarding approximately 74-megawatt wind energy project.
• Local counsel in $150 million financing of electric transmission assets across 14 counties.
• Advising on alternatives and negotiating and drafting documents to facilitate transfer of renewable project income stream separate from project lease.
• Represented national leader in sales and installation of distributed wind energy projects, including Vestas, Gamesa, Northern Power, and Endurance Turbines.

Mergers and Acquisitions - Real Estate

• Local counsel regarding bankruptcy restructuring of 16 (out of 850 nationwide) retail and distribution locations, a mix of fee title and leased properties.
• Local counsel to purchaser of prominent 350,000 square feet mixed-use development in key real estate investment market, including assisting with survival and transfer of incentives through a receivership process.
• Local counsel to investor of five storage facility sites.
• Purchaser's counsel to acquire 34 operating hotels in multiple transactions. Representation spanned negotiating asset acquisition agreements, conducting diligence and risk assessment, and operations turnover.
• Real estate member of firm’s transaction team representing a dairy operation in the asset purchase of large feedlot and agriculture enterprise in western Kansas. The firm’s role included negotiation and preparation of letters of intent, asset purchase and related transaction documents, ERISA and employee benefit matters, business and tax issues, review and negotiation of land title and permitting issues, water rights and environmental issues, and a broad range of general corporate matters.
• Real estate member of firm’s transaction team representing heavy equipment dealer’s two separate successful acquisitions of other large franchise equipment dealer’s operations and territory. The first acquisition doubled its territory from 49 to 99 Kansas counties; the second added 45 more counties in Kansas and Missouri. The real estate portion of the transactions included 16 new operations sites, the real estate diligence and related financing and third-party agreements for each, and negotiation of the real-estate-related portions of the acquisition agreements.
• Real estate member of firm’s transaction team that successfully represented the seller of a 20-hotel portfolio of assets located in 11 states to Hyatt Hotels Corporation. Legal real estate work included negotiation of real estate terms of sale agreement, responding to real estate diligence inquiries and issues, and obtaining lessor, owners associations, governmental, and other third-party required consents.
• Represented seller in successful sale of multi-state, multi-location convenience store operator for 50 business sites. Real estate issues included negotiation of real estate terms of sale agreement, creatively addressing and solving title objections, leasing, estoppels, third party consents, licenses, lot-splits, new easements, and zoning and code compliance.
• Real estate member of firm’s transaction team that successfully represented the seller of a 99-bed hospital operation to an HCA subsidiary, including negotiating real estate terms of sale agreement, a long-term lease, related re-financing terms and documentation for the site, shared building use and services terms with other occupant, and assisting with real estate diligence items.

Real Estate Development

• Datacenter financing local counsel.
• Landowner counsel negotiating multiple datacenter property sale/leasing agreements.
• Land use entitlements and permitting support to make possible new construction of a 1,000,000 square-foot state-of-the-art manufacturing facility sited on 100 acres.
• Advising education client on multiple unique and innovative campus property developments.
• Counsel to seller of water rights and provider of gray water management services to industrial cheese processing facility.
• Land use permitting counsel to top-10 national developer of high-end vehicle service business locations.
• Hotel developer’s outside counsel, including leading real estate legal team handling all aspects of new site acquisition negotiation, diligence, and entitlement, to acquire, construct and operate or franchise more than 180 sites throughout the United States.
• Counsel for hotel developer obtaining industrial revenue bonds.
• Site acquisition and diligence counsel to regional shopping center developer.
• Represent acquirer of 15-acre industrial site, including pre-acquisition diligence, and post-acquisition complex re-development leasing and diligence.
• Local Kansas counsel for significant casino company, assisting with a range of site acquisition, development, and permitting issues, including laws and use concerns unique to a casino operation, for a proposed $260 million, 275-acre development.
• Representing developer longer than 20 years of approximately 29-acre urban mixed-use multi-building public-private downtown revitalization development in all aspects: development agreements, land contracts, multiple ground leases to support national retailer, offices, national hotel chain and condominiums, subleases, owners associations, financing, platting, permitting, restrictive covenants, easements, parking agreements, and use limitations.
• Counsel to land seller/developer of largest and still-expanding commercial development corridor in Garden City, Kansas, including Walmart, Sam’s Club, Home Depot, Applebee’s, Menard’s, hotel, and additional sites. Representation included involvement in development, tax, government incentives, platting, zoning, utilities, easement, and restrictive covenant issues.
• Exclusive representation of developer of approximately 700-acre mixed-use development. Handled all development aspects, including land contracts, leasing, owners' associations, financing, platting, permitting, restrictive covenants, easements, parking agreements, and use limitations.

Real Estate Leasing

• Local counsel to preeminent lifestyle center with mix of 40+ national and boutique tenants, regarding acquisition, leasing, redevelopment, and financings.
• Counsel to tenant of 240,000 square feet of build-to-suit special use office space within a multi-tenant redevelopment property.
• Representation of landlord of 131,000 square-feet multi-story office building with national and regional tenants, negotiation of tenant leasing documents and related documents and issues, including tenant leasing 81,000 square-feet.
• Assisted with more than 100 transactions – a mix of leasing (single-site, pad site, and in-line) and site sale/purchases of fee title – across five states for franchisees of several national restaurant chains.
• Represented landlord in complex industrial leasing transaction involving more than 1,200,000 square feet.
• Negotiated tenant’s three industrial leases covering over 1,000,000 square feet.

• Lex Mundi Renewable Energy Group (North America), Organizer
• American College of Real Estate Lawyers (ACREL): Co-lead Climate Change Affinity Group; Past Membership Development Committee
• One of 100 "Women to Watch" United States business leaders named to Bizwomen's/American City Business Journal's 2016 list
• Solar Energy Industries Association, Member
• The Foundation for Natural Resources and Energy Law, Member
• ICSC (Innovating Commerce Serving Communities f/k/a International Council of Shopping Centers), Member
• Wichita Business Journal Women in Business honoree, 2016
• Wichita Business Journal Women Who Lead in Real Estate and Construction honoree, 2020
• Wichita Business Journal Women Who Lead in Legal, Insurance and Human Resources honoree, 2025
• Recognized by Best Lawyers® as the 2015 and 2021 Wichita Real Estate Law “Lawyer of the Year”
• Selected by peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® in the area of Real Estate Law, 2011-2026
• Identified by Chambers USA as a Star Individual in the United States for Real Estate, 2025; and a leading lawyer in the United States for Real Estate, 2008-2024
• Foulston Siefkin Leadership: Wichita Transactional Group, Vice-Chair; Associates Committee, Past Member, Past Co-Chair; Recruiting Committee, Past Member
• Wichita Business Journal / 40 Under 40 Business Leader 2007
• American Bar Association Real Property Section and Business Section, Member
• Kansas Bar Association: Real Estate, Probate and Trust; Oil Gas and Minerals; Corporation, Banking and Business Sections; Kansas Title Standards Committee, Past Member
• Wichita Bar Association: Real Estate Committee, Past Chair; Education Committee, Past Member; Building Committee, Member
• Kansas Women Attorneys Association
• Wichita Women Attorneys Association
• CCIM (Certified Commercial Investment Member) - Kansas Chapter, Affiliate Member
• Women in Commercial Real Estate (WICRE), Member
• Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) Patriot Award recipient in recognition of extraordinary support of an employee serving in the Kansas Army National Guard

2025

• Energize Your Career: Real Estate Lawyer Roles in Renewable Energy Project Development (American College of Real Estate Lawyers, 2025 Mid-Year Meeting)
• Energize Your Solar Leasing Capability (American College of Real Estate Lawyers, ACRELive Webinar)

2024

• Focus on Kansas Businesses: Unique Renewable Electricity Acquisition Options (Future Forward: The Kansas Energy Economy Conference)

2023

• Kansas County Counselor Land Use Roles Generated by Renewables (County Counselors Association of Kansas, Annual Meeting)

2022

• Bias Is Unavoidable: Avoid Bias-Caused Losses To Your Deals, Negotiations, and Team (ICSC+U.S. Law Conference) 
• Confronting Climate Change Policies– the Challenges of Decarbonizing Real Estate Toward a Net Zero Future (ACREL 2022 Annual Meeting) 
• Wind and Solar Energy – Kansas County Counselor Roles (Kansas County Counselors Association) 
• Wind, Solar, and Other Renewable Energy Infrastructure in Kansas (Kansas County Commissioners Annual Conference)
• State and Local Land Use: Get the Facts and Know the Law to Site Responsibly and Develop Winning Renewable Energy Projects (American Clean Power (ACP) National Siting and Environmental Compliance Conference)
• Trends, Forecast and Unique Topics in Large Scale Rural Solar and Wind Land Use Planning and Approvals, with Steve Romine (American College of Real Estate Lawyers (ACREL) Land Use and Environmental Committee)

2021

• But, I’m Not Biased! Solving Intentional and Unintentional Bias in the Workplace (2021 ICSC Law Conference)
• Where Do I Sign? Wait — What Am I Signing? Understand Your Residential Contract to Buy or Sell (Hispanics in RE, Inc.)

2019

• Assess Your Negotiation Style: The Ethics of Puffing, Bluffing and Outright Misrepresentations in Agreement Negotiations (International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), U.S. Shopping Center Law Conference)
• How to (Ethically) Improve Your Negotiating Style (Foulston Siefkin LLP, Corporate Counsel Series: Ethics 2019)
• Ethics in Transaction Negotiation, Drafting, and Deal-Making – How Does Your Style Stack Up, Ethically? (Wichita Bar Association)
• Qualified Opportunity Zones & Tax Strategies for Investing (Women in Commercial Real Estate)

2018

• Unconscious Bias - How to Spot It and Become and Inclusive Leader (International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), U.S. Shopping Center Law Conference)
• Qualified Opportunity Zones (Wichita CCIM Chapter)

2017

• Advanced Title Issues and Solutions (International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), U.S. Shopping Center Law Conference)

2016

• Title Insurance and Surveys (International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), U.S. Shopping Center Law Conference)

2015

• Wichita State University, Advanced Real Estate Development Class (Guest lecturer on the topic of legal issues & utilizing lawyers regarding real property development)
• Growing Greater Results: Becoming a Better Negotiator (Kansas Women Attorneys Association, Breakout Session)
• Deal or No Deal – What Are You Willing to Bet on Your Boilerplate Provisions (Wichita Bar Association)
• Working With Real Estate Lawyers (Women In Commercial Real Estate)
• Legal Basics: Financing and Structuring Commercial Real Estate Transactions (Women In Commercial Real Estate)

2014

• Branding Makeover – Take Years Off Your Networking & Business Development Learning Curve (Kansas Women Attorneys Association, The 2014 Lindsborg Conference)
• Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours: Wind Turbines, Cell Towers, & Billboard Agreements - Getting Comfortable with Odd-Shaped Objects (Wichita Bar Association)
• Commercial Real Estate Business Books (Women In Commercial Real Estate)

2012

• Wind Project Title Insurance: Breeze through the Issues (Kansas Land Title Association, District Meeting)

2011

• Wichita State University, Advanced Real Estate Development Class (Guest lecturer on the topic of legal issues & utilizing lawyers regarding real property development)
• Survey Shape-Up and Title Tone-Up: 50 Minutes to Faster, Firmer & Fabulous Orders, Reviews, Negotiations & Purchases (Wichita Bar Association)
• Issues Related to Wind Energy Transactions from a Construction and Real Estate Perspective (Kansas Bar Association, Faculty presenter of “Energizing the Law Practice” seminar)

2010

• 2010 Construction Industry Legislative Update (Kansas Construction Network)

2009

• Preparing the Title Opinion and Issues in Title Insurance (National Business Institute seminar)
• The Lay of the Land: Land Title Issues (Chapters 2 & 12 of Kansas Real Estate Practice and Procedure Handbook) (Kansas Bar Association, 27th Annual KBA Plaza Lights Institute)
• Ethics In Real Estate Transactions (Wichita Bar Association, Real Estate Seminar)
• Wichita State University, Advanced Real Estate Development Class (Guest lecturer on the topic of legal issues & utilizing lawyers regarding real property development)

2025

• Energize Your Career: Explore the Development of Large Wind, Solar, and Battery Energy Storage Systems for Real Estate Lawyers to Consider Their Possible Roles
  -The ACREL Papers, The American College Of Real Estate Lawyers, Spring 2025

2024

• State-by-State Guide to Commercial Real Estate Leases (2024 ed.), Author, Kansas Chapter
  -Wolters Kluwer

2022

• Decarbonizing Buildings to Combat Climate Change:
  Part of Your Commercial Real Estate Law Practice?
  -The ACREL Papers, The American College Of Real Estate Lawyers, Fall 2022

2009

• Title Examinations
  -Chapter author of Kansas Bar Association, Kansas Real Estate Practice and Procedure Handbook

2020

• Coronavirus: What Kansas Multi-Family and Other Residential Landlords Should Know About the Unprecedented Federal Residential Eviction Moratorium Order
• Coronavirus: Business Guide to the Kansas Ad Astra Re-Open Plan (Phase 2.0)
• Coronavirus: Business Guide to the Kansas Ad Astra Re-Open Plan (Phase 1.5)
• Coronavirus: Open for Business – The Kansas Ad Astra Re-Open Plan (Phase 1)
• Coronavirus: Rapid Funds Available Now For Businesses In 35 Kansas Communities

2018

• Don't Wait for IRS Guidance to Invest in Opportunity Zone Fund