The need has added importance as we transition from quarantine to trying to improve the quality of life of our fellow citizens. The need is urgent because lawyers are oftentimes intermediaries between the real estate industry and insurers.

According to Justin Daily of Daily | Aljian, a boutique litigation firm in Orange County, California:

“Insurance contracts can be confusing and may leave a great deal up to interpretation. A good lawyer can point out the risks to the insurance company in not covering a claim as well as potential gaps in coverage to the insured, thereby bringing the parties closer to a fair, quick, and definite resolution.”

Justin Daily’s quote is a sound definition of what, in my opinion, good lawyering is; the ability to clarify, communicate, and consummate an agreement. These skills are valuable, always, but they are invaluable at this particular moment in time.

The moment requires two of the economy’s biggest industries, real estate and insurance, to work together. 

The moment also requires speed, much like a person’s right to a speedy trial, in the sense that it is better to achieve a swift—and just—outcome than it is to try the patience of the system itself. The moment requires deliberation, not delay. The moment requires the real estate industry, in conjunction with the insurance industry, to show the nation how to recover; how to heal.

If lawyers can facilitate the recovery, all the better. 

I know what good lawyers can do, that they can help insurers issue policies that are clear, that they can help insurers clarify what existing policies say, that they can help insurers summarize what specific policies cover.

Clarity should govern what real estate agents and insurers do. That good lawyers are vital to the success of both industries should be, if it is not already, clear. If the point is not clear, the failure is my own. 

Hopefully, readers understand what I mean; for what I mean to say is this, The real estate industry faces many difficulties. The challenges in the coming weeks and months will be several and serious. The same is true of the insurance industry. But I am confident in our ability to meet whatever burdens we must bear or hardships we must meet.

I am also confident in my belief that good lawyers will do their best to help us, that they will advise us, that they will counsel us, that they will represent our respective interests.

Let us, therefore, resolve to work together.

Let us revive the real estate industry and collaborate with the insurance industry, with the aid of those lawyers—good lawyers—who are advocates in the best sense of the word.

Michael D. Shaw is an MIT-trained biochemist and former protégée of the late Willard Libby, the 1960 winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He is a frequent writer and speaker about a variety of issues.