Real Estate Attorney

[Tyrone Green]

Anyone know of a good RE attorney in the Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia or surrounding areas?

What questions do I need to ask to find out if the attorney and I are a good "fit?"

Thanks in advance for your help!

[Account Closed]

I am an attorney.  While I don't know much about real estate law, I can give you a few tips about hiring a lawyer.  First, lawyers are as varied as salespeople or realtors, or any other profession.  You have the guy at the mall chewing gum, the sleazy guy at the car lot, or some highly successful corporate salesperson.  All are "salespeople".  Many people don't understand that the legal profession is nothing like what you see on TV.  Basically, you have the top tier attorney, who goes to a very good school and works at a large firm (anywhere from 50 to over 1000 lawyers).  The client list is usually a list of fortune five hundreds.  These guys charge very high rates and aren't interested usually in working on small matters.  A real estate lawyer in this game would work for a Donald Trump or a real estate developer with multi million dollar deals.  This is less than 5 percent of total attorneys.  

The other end of the spectrum are solo practitioners who usually went to local law schools (much less demanding/competitive), they advertise in the phone book, the name of their firm is usually their own name, and they usually list a long line of things they do--criminal, bankruptcy, traffic accidents, etc.  The average salary in this crowded field is about 50k per year.  These people really have to hustle to just make ends meet.  Some of them are experienced.  Some of them very good at what they do.  Many are complete hacks.  If you call up one of these guys and say you are looking for a real estate attorney, they will probably tell you, sure, I can help.  That's what they say to everyone to keep the business coming in the door.   This makes up about half the attorneys out there.  

I think the best kind of attorney for investors would be someone who is in the middle of these two extremes.  either 1. as a solo runs an exclusive real estate practice.  2.  Works in a midsized firm (5-50 attorneys, depending on the size of your area).  These lawyers tend to be reputable, established, work for more sophisticated clients, but their fees are still reasonable.  Sometimes the lawyers worked at bigger shops earlier in their career but left for a better lifestyle.  So you are getting the quality of the big clients without the big price tag.  

I don't think it's so important that your lawyer be an investor him/herself.  In fact, that might be a bad thing.  If a lawyer runs a busy, successful practice, you don't have time to be hanging bandit signs and answering calls or dealing with tenants.  I would ask, what percentage of your practice focuses on real estate?  If I call you, how soon can I generally expect a response?  Lawyers operate on a calendar of months.  So an investor expecting a quick response may think the lawyer is too slow.  

Be clear about fees.  Most lawyers will be able to answer your questions.  But you don't want to be paying 250 bucks an hour for your lawyers education.  What I mean is if you came to me and asked for a partnership agreement, I could help you.  But I'd start in the library and 20 hours later, give you a good product--and you a bill for about 5 grand.  Someone who has a previous client who needed a partnership agreement can pull it up, make a few changes, and give you a good product with 2 hours of work--and a bill for a few hundred bucks.    

You can ask about experience, but don't just assume you are looking for a middle aged lawyer with grey hair.  There are bad lawyers with bad habits, who have been repeating those habits for 30 years.  And there are exceptional lawyers who are only 5-8 years out of law school.  Believe it or not, some of the older guys I have worked with don't even know how to use computer programs for research.  A lawyer who can't do online research is useless in today's world.  But I can think of four or five reputable, expensive lawyers right now, who can't do it.  You can also get a pretty good vibe about a law office by sitting in the waiting room and taking a close look at the staff.  Are they overworked?  In a good mood?  Bored with nothing to do?  Tense?  

Finally, be specific about what you want the lawyer to do.  Don't just hire a lawyer because "you want someone on your team".  Make it clear to the lawyer that you intend to be a repeat customer when the needs arise.  But when you hire a lawyer, make it for specific work.  Articulate your priorities and goals.  I've seen clients waste lots of money, and lawyers happy to help them do it, because they don't know what they want to do and the best way to do it.