Questions when seeking new Legal Services

Where are you located?

Chris

Do you or have you ever belonged to CAI?

If not, please don't bad mouth the organization. There are a lot of good people that belong to the ORGANIZATION that have the BEST interest of the HOA's in mind, myself included. While I don't agree with everything, I joined to educate myself on overall management of an homeowner association really encompassed.
I think I am smart enough to take the positive things it has to offer, disregard others, but most importantly get involved to make changes.

With all due respect Chris, I think you’re a little biased because of the problems you’re having with your HOA, and while I don’t think CAI is the end-all or last word on HOAs, they do provide good resources for many people. Maybe I’m biased, but we have two law firms that are affiliated with our local chapter and for the most part, I’m very pleased with their work. Then again, except for the mind-blowing apathy among our homeowners, we’re fortunate in that our board has been pretty upfront with Association issues and they haven’t found it necessary to sue us.

That said, Andrea, if you don’t want to use someone who’s affiliated with CAI, there are other firms out there – and I do think you need someone who know something about how HOAs are supposed to be run. The main thing to remember is that the attorney works for the Association, not the other way around – you need to be clear about what you want, but also willing to listen to his/her advice and weigh the pros and cons before making a decision. That’s why anyone should do when hiring ANY attorney for any reason.

I would start with considering the biggest issues you have with your current firm and then ask potential firms about their policy. Without naming names, you could say, for example, you’ve had trouble getting timely updates on collection action and would like to know how often they provide those updates. Better yet, does the firm have a website where a designated board member could use a secured userID and password to get real time updates on their cases (this way, you wouldn’t have to talk to the lawyer directly and save money).

You should also get a schedule of fees or estimates on how much a case will cost. Depending on the issue, the board can then determine how far it wants to go and perhaps set a “drop dead” deadline where litigation might need to end if the expense outweighs the benefits. A good attorney should be willing to tell your chances at the onset – nothing’s guaranteed of course, but it’s better to be honest and save the Association money than throw away good money after bad.

I also think good attorneys educate their clients – ultimately that could help prevent unnecessary and expensive lawsuits in the first place. Our soon to be former attorney has sponsored annual dinners where the associates and partners provide board training or updates on laws affecting HOAs – it’s available for clients on retainer, so you can send one or all of your board members. Some firms offer a certain number of hours where the Board can call and get legal advice for free – if they do this, how many hours?

And make sure you know it has the necessary resources to do the work. One reason we’re moving towards dropping our attorney is because we haven’t been happy with his collection work. There are a number of things that have happened with the cases that he wasn’t responsible for, of course, and judges dance to their own beats regardless of what everyone else wants. However, we found that until recently, the firm didn’t have resources like Lexus, which has some databases that can be used for skip tracing. Again, not foolproof, but it’s better to have something to start with in-house rather than say “I can’t find him/her” and leave it at that. If you’re going to do collections work, you need the proper resources.

In the end, results are what you’re interested in, so be sure to ask for references and check them. The references probably won’t be able to disclose details on individual cases, but that isn’t necessary – listen out for problems in getting timely information, up to date fee schedule, itemized bills so you can better track expenses, etc.

Oh, yeah, before you dump the current firm, try having a heart to heart with them explaining what your concerns are and see what they’re willing to do to keep you as a client. Set a deadline to see if things don’t improve and if they don’t proceed with your selection process – and make sure you get all the files to turn over to the new attorney. Good luck!

Andrea, do avoid advice from ChrisA.

I agree that an attorney who specializes in HOA law is best as they need to be up to date on the HOA laws in your state as well as your state's corporations codes. They need to be experienced in interpreting CC&Rs (covenants; declaration).

David makes a very nice point about avoiding a firm that represents HOAs with the same developer as yours, especially if your HOA is still within the statutes of limitations re: construction defects.

We hired a new firm last summer and without asking, they each included a list of their local HOA clients in their packages.

You want to know their retainer fee per month or year and what they charge per hour or fraction of an hour for the services of paralegals, senior partners, etc. They might also include

Our former firm and the three we interviewed do not charge for phone calls from a designated director, usually the president, in a conference call that includes out PM. They do charge for other types of communication including emails.

Larry's suggestion about reviewing their court case verdicts might make sense but our 13-year old HOA has never been involved in any lawsuit except for a construction defect lawsuit for which we hired a specialist firm in that field.

Do not EVER insult me. Fix you mess before you try and lecture others on subjects you have no knowledge. Cut and paste from some website doesn't work for me.

We have a legal firm we can go to. They serve as our registered agent for under $200. We can then utilize other services they provide (billed when used) as needed or go to a different attorney. The choice is ours. If we have no legal issues. The only cost is the registered agent fee.

This allows the Association to have quick access to an attorney if needed. However, it also allows the Association to take the time (when time permits) to choose the best attorney we need.

The firm we use is large enough that they have specialties in HOA/COA, contract and corporate law.

Perhaps your Association can enter into a similar arrangement with a firm in your area.

I do like Larry's suggestion as a way to check out the firm.

Seems the OP has gone on vacation. Nothing since her first post.

As for CAI as I have said it would be impossible for any rational human being to discount any lawyer associated with them.

I do NOT belong as a member but do attend their trade shows and seminars.
So to suggest each and every service provider associated with them is evil would be nonsense.

I would search for someone with HOA knowledge. I would also ask for references including other HOAs. And perhaps contact other properties in your area to search out some names.

And finally regarding Chris from Jersey. As most of you know by now I have little regard for her. As a mater of fact I dislike and do not respect those who would come to this site, blame everyone under the sun only to find out in the end it is CHRIS from Jersey that is the problem.

Chris has commented all HOAs are cancer. CAI is also cancer. In this thread she once again claims anyone associated with CAI in her view should be disregarded.

Then come to find out CHRIS had filed 4 lawsuits against her own HOA.
Legal costs for two of them exceeding $100,000.
One suit argued CHRIS had the right to prevent the HOA from granting an easement on the HOA property. Chris lost that case.
She then appealed and lost.
Chris also sued the judge who in one of her cases ruled against her. She lost again.

But Chris now lectures about the problems as she sees them in reagrds to HOAs.

And most telling for me is the fact when all of this information came to light CHRIS refuses to discuss or speak of any of it.

She demands transparency from her own HOA but hides from her own history.
You see it is not that Chris knows where the problems lie the truth is CHRIS herself is the problem.

She labels people who see things differenly as cowards and in her next breath claims she herself has "COURAGE". Just not enough courage to speak truthfully and own her own history.

So myself I have no use for CHRIS or frauds like her.

You bad mouth Board members but don't serve.
You bad mouth CAI when you have limited understanding or first hand knowledge of the organization except through your own blind eyes.
You make claims about all HOAs based on the ONE SINGLE HOA you live in.
You make claims you are fighting the good fight for others when in fact this is all about YOU.

So in the end everyone can make up their own minds in regards to CHRIS from Jersey I have made up mine.

It does not take courage to file a complaint in small claims court.
It does no take courage to sue a sitting judge simply to prove a point which accomplished nothing.
It does not take courage to speak ill of people nationwide whom you don't know and never will in the hopes tha might give you some clout. It does not.
It does not take courage to hide from your own actions while preaching where the fault in others lies.

Every property has at least one. This property in Jersey has Chris....

Thank you all for your responses. Some of the points that were mentioned will be helpful, but the posts got a little to complicated for me.
Our HOA currently pays a monthly retainer fee and one of our issues is that it seems that every issue that arises is not covered by the fee and is then charged by the hourly rate. Fortunately our homeowners are satisfied with the job the Board is doing (I am the President)and we have not been sued by any homeowners. My question was more of a general one, the current Board inherited this law firm from our predecessors and we just want to assemble a list of questions for a RFP that will be sent to 3 local law firms that we know do HOA work. We have a good idea of what we want and I want make sure we didn't miss anything.
Andrea

Honestly, like I stated before. I don't think a HOA should have a lawyer on retainer. It's a waste of money. You need to identify exactly what your using that lawyer for and define it. If you keep one around for knee-jerk reactions to everyone who threatens to sue, then you are really wasting ALOT of your HOA money/assets. It's not worth the long term costs.

If the HOA READS and obeys it's documentation, then there is no need for a lawyer. If you need help in translating your documents, then start doing some kind of "workshop" taking a section at a time. Work out your questions and then submit them to a lawyer if you feel the need. The HOA documents really do define how to handle HOA issues. If you stick to them and ALWAYS reference them when making decisions, then anyone that threatens or tries to sue won't have much of a case. Getting in that practice of always bringing the rules to each meeting and whenever writing notices refer directly to them will help ease the need for legal council. Your HOA does have that power of writing notices without a lawyer doing it.

You can't rule out that your insurance plays a BIG part in any lawsuit. The HOA needs to review it's policy on that. Most lawsuits would end up as claims on the insurance. That is if you have insurance. Which every HOA should have. The insurance company does cap the payout it will pay in cases of lawsuits. You need to find out what that cap is so you can see if that outweighs the cost of constant legal bills or other factors.

I use my lawyers as "tools". I know that I need a lawyer for 3 things: Lien filing, foreclosure filing, and representing us in court if need be. They also may assist in re-writing and filing HOA document changes. Otherwise, if you have a MC they may agree to write violation notices. We always wrote the violation notices ourselves. The HOA needs to make sure it has a fining schedule in place if you do use fines and a punitive measure.

Just define what your using the lawyer for. That should help you decide if you need to keep one on retainer or use a different source. Most items can be resolved using the HOA documents as reference and not always consulting a third party resource IMO.

Gee whiz why would I bring lawsuits in my posts? That's because that is what most HOA's hire lawyers for. Either to sue or to defend themselves against a possible lawsuit. Why else do you consult an attorney even for your document changes? To make sure someone doesn't decide to bring a lawsuit.

I don't condone HOA's ever suing any member. I also am not against a member suing their HOA. However, I see so many HOA's over spend money on knee-jerk reactions on B.S. lawsuit threats or potential. Something a well run educated using the rules HOA would not have a need for except for liens/foreclosures and rule rewriting/filing. I've never found the need as President of the HOA to ever consult an attorney on lawsuits potentials or prevention.

Funny this coming for a person who demands law references from people who are NOT lawyers nor do they represent themselves as such...

That is my reply JohnC every time. I do not jump up into action or run to a lawyer... Always let them know that suing the HOA is suing yourself and your neighbors... So sue if you want to...I will wait for the paperwork to arrive....