Do you know your company's intellectual property rights as a broker or MLS leader? What your responsibilities are as a virtual office Website (VOW) broker/operator to customers who may reside in another state? These are just a few is the issues that are complicating what is already the most complex industry - real estate. A new law firm hopes to keep real estate practitioners safely out of court.
The Chicago and Florida-based law firm of Arnstein & Lehr LLP announces the creation of a national Real Estate Services Practice Group, to be co-chaired by Chicago partners Robert D. Butters and Robert T. Cichocki, who concentrate on the "representation of businesses and professional associations in the real estate services industries, including those engaged in real estate brokerage, real estate brokerage franchising, appraising, home building and construction, mortgage lending, referral and relocation, title insurance, home warranties, home inspections, and real estate information databases."
Explains Butters, "This new Practice Group is related to, but separate from, our existing Real Estate Practice Group, which negotiates, drafts and closes real estate sale, lease and loan transactions for our general business clients. This new Real Estate Services Practice Group instead concentrates on serving companies that provide products or services related to the sale, leasing, financing, or management of residential, commercial or industrial real estate."
Butters spent 12 years as the deputy general counsel for the National Association of Realtors. Later, he represented eRealty and other clients in their pursuit to change the NAR's VOW policy which allowed brokers to opt-out of sharing their listings on competitors' VOWs.
Having worked both sides of the real estate fence, few are better suited to make this statement than he, "There is no more complex business than real estate, and it can lead lawyers to making big mistakes if they don't know the industry."
Published: May 7, 2004
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