Meeting with Attorney

[Steve Lyman]

Hi all,

I am about to jump into my first multi-family apartment deal and have some great connections inside the metro Detroit commercial apartment industry. By referral, I am meeting with an attorney from a large firm that specializes in Real Estate. I have some questions for them, but wanted to bounce it to BP. What should I ask?

Thanks,

Steve

[Parker Ihrie]

@Steve Lyman, I'm interested to know who you're meeting with.  I am an attorney with Jaffe Raitt Heuer & Weiss, P.C. and I am in the real estate group.  We have about 110 attorneys and we handle accounts for many big multifamily investors and developers.  Our clients have found that our rates are more competitive than other large firms and our work product is top notch.  If you were interested, I would invite you to come meet with us, as well.  

To answer your question, I would make sure to ask about the following:

1. Rate structure - Rates are different for junior associate attorneys, senior associate attorneys, junior partners and senior partners.  It is important to know who is doing your work in order to determine how much it will cost.  Attorneys will also use their paralegals, who also may charge a significant hourly fee.  

2. Experience - Obviously, one of the main questions will be whether the attorney has the experience with the types of deals you are investing in.  Make sure they not only know how to handle the acquisition aspect from beginning to end, but that they know how to handle the financing.  Relationships with lenders are very valuable and many attorneys work with certain lenders a lot which can cut down on the costs.  For example, we repeatedly work with many lenders and they trust our work.  We could cut down on costs simply by relying on past work on similar deals - by saving time.

3. Communication - How will your attorney communicate with you?  Who is your point man?  Will you be passed off to a younger associate?  Do you have to meet in person frequently?  What if the attorney is on vacation - how will your deal be handled?  How long is too long for a client inquiry to go unanswered?  Generally, email and phone is the most common method, with email being heavily relied upon.  While my response time is very fast (usually within minutes), my rule is that any client inquiry should be responded to within 24 hours.

4. What does your attorney expect of you?  If an attorney has a client who rarely responds, takes too long to respond, doesn't provide enough information, fails to keep the attorney in the loop, etc., it will greatly hamper the quality of the attorney's work product.  

5. Ask them whether they have any real estate deals of their own or if they invest in any of their clients' deals.  It's always better to have someone who has some skin in the game and real experience.

This is not an exhaustive list.  Please let me know if I can be of any further assistance.

Thanks and good luck!