The legal challenges associated with forming, registering, operating and managing highly effective community associations are manifold, touching upon many aspects of the law. By taking full advantage of the depth and breadth of their collective experience, the veteran attorneys in our Community Associations team help our clients navigate this complex territory with absolute confidence. We routinely help our clients take strategically and legally sound approaches to managing condominiums, resort and timeshare developments, community associations and residential and commercial planned communities of all types and sizes. Our interdisciplinary practice group is thoroughly grounded in all aspects of community association law and business.
Promoting community.
An association is first and foremost a community. In our role as advisors, we advocate operating procedures aimed at promoting owner involvement, effective communication, sound business practices and well-organized and efficiently run meetings. This methodology makes sense on many levels. For example, our attorneys fully understand that community-building is a human process: When meetings run well and smoothly, the difficult emotional and psychological dynamics that can complicate association proceedings are less likely to arise. A cohesive community association, in other words, requires a legal, operational and business infrastructure that is based upon proven community-building principles. This is precisely the focus of our Community Association team.
Laying the groundwork.
Effective documents are essential to the successful operation and governance of any community association. Without them, board decisions may appear arbitrary and unfair to some homeowners, and consensus-building becomes more difficult. Our Community Associations team is experienced at substantially improving existing documents through carefully worded amendments, as well as in drafting declarations, bylaws, articles of incorporation, rules and architectural guidelines that are clear, logically organized and legally sound. The same adjectives do not always apply to the governing documents and applicable state and federal laws that are so critical to the operation of any community association. Our attorneys are routinely called upon to help boards of directors interpret and comply with these sometimes-ambiguous requirements.
Operating and managing.
Helping clients manage and govern effectively—in full compliance with the law, and with strategically optimal approaches to operational concerns such as risk- and budget-management, regulatory compliance, homeowner relations, collections and much more—is among the primary goals of our Community Associations team. Indeed, our attorneys maintain a sharp focus on drafting skillful corporate policies, establishing effective procedures for running board and member meetings, member communications (written and oral), and providing specific guidelines for clear communications among developers, managers, boards and owners. Moreover, our knowledge of the state and federal laws concerning the duties and responsibilities of developers, boards, directors, managers and other personnel allows us to advise clients on courses of action that accomplish desired goals while avoiding liability. In addition, we act as forceful representatives for our clients in negotiations related to a broad range of service contracts, such as property management, landscaping, telecommunications and amenity-management. Our attorneys fully understand the importance of securing efficient and affordable terms in such matters, regardless of the economic climate.
Enforcing and collecting.
While most members of a community association comply with its governing documents, it is an unfortunate inevitability that some will shirk their responsibilities, failing to pay assessments or to abide by agreed-upon covenants and rules. Fair enforcement and collections policies help minimize conflict and promote consistent enforcement in these often highly charged situations. Our Community Associations team has years of experience in helping clients develop and execute enforcement and collection policies that allow for informal resolution, as well as formal processes that comply with all applicable federal and state statutory requirements. We do our best to avoid litigation. When it becomes necessary, however, our interdisciplinary Community Associations team brings to bear the full force of our firm’s considerable resources.
Regardless of the task at hand, our attorneys rely on the strategic intra-firm collaboration that is a hallmark of LeClairRyan—an approach that enables us to maximize our clients’ strategic advantage while saving them both time and money.