section update
Real Estate Section
By Michael E. Leavey
Dorough & Dorough, LLC
[email protected]
E
ven as the “bar year” comes to a close, the Real Estate
Section is staying as busy as ever with its monthly
meetings and other special events and programs.
At the Section’s February breakfast meeting, Patrick Braley
of Bennett Thrasher and Chuck Van Horn of Berman Fink
Van Horn PC and the Section’s Immediate Past Chair
discussed the use of forensic accounting in soured real estate
transactions in their presentation “Accounting Professionals:
Real Solutions to Real Problems in Real Estate.” The program
provided great insight into one of the ways lawyers can use
other professionals to support their clients’ legal claims.
In March, John J. Wiles, Wiles & Wiles, LLP, and Judge
Louis Levenson, Levenson & Associates, presented “Trial
of a Dispossessory Case.” Attendees enjoyed the dynamic
of a practitioner and a jurist discussing the mechanics of
dispossessory proceedings and general landlord-tenant law.
The Section’s April breakfast featured a program entitled,
“Private Covenants Encumbering Real Property - Application,
Enforcement and Duration.” Warren O. Wheeler of Schreeder,
Wheeler & Flint, LLP and Leonard R. Gray Jr. of First American
Title Insurance Company discussed the life and death of
covenants restricting the use of land and the affect that certain
statutes have on the enforceability of covenants. Mr. Gray
also provided an interesting perspective into the role of title
insurance in situations where property owners may want to
alternatively avoid or sustain enforcement of covenants. The
attendees included a mix of title agents, practitioners and law
students interested in hearing more about this fundamental
aspect of real property law.
The Section’s May breakfast program will continue the annual
panel series regarding the retail real estate industry; and the
Section will hold a networking luncheon in June in lieu of its
usual breakfast meeting. Please be on the look out for future
announcements about these events.
The Real Estate Section holds its breakfast meetings on
the first Thursday of each month at 7:30 a.m., at the offices
of Arnall Golden Gregory in Atlantic Station. CLE credit is
typically available for Section members and attendees. The
Section reserves a number of free or reduced-price spaces
at its meetings and events for unemployed attorneys and
law students.
The Section is always looking for members to help with
planning and coordinating the