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SO WHAT ABOUT THE ATTORNEY?
By
Eric Glazer, Esq.
Published February 4, 2019
It’s been a while since I blogged about me,
or more specifically, attorneys that represent community
associations. I’m curious to know what are the most important
factors that go into a Board’s decision to hire counsel. I’ll
list a few and it would be great if you respond to the blog by
putting each category in the order of importance to you and/or
your Board.
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There are over 77,000 licensed attorneys
in the State of Florida. Only 127 are Board Certified in
Condominium and Planned Development Law. Do you want to have
a Florida Bar Board Certified Attorney working with your
association?
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Experience. How important is it to have
an attorney with experience? At what point would you
consider an attorney as “experienced?” 5 years? 10 years? 20
years or more?
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Teaching or writing: Do you care if the
attorney is out in the community teaching seminars,
appearing on the news or writing columns or blogs? How about
doing a radio show? LOL
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Reputation in the community? How
important is the firm’s or the attorney’s reputation amongst
the people you ask for recommendations?
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A recommendation from your management
company? Do you ask for an opinion from your management
company as to which attorney or firm to hire? Do you even
let the management company make the choice for your?
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Website? Do you just browse a few law
firm websites and choose from there?
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Some associations ask for in person
interviews. Do you? Question: Why is it OK to ask an
attorney to come to your home for an interview, but not your
doctor?
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Price. Does it simply boil down to price?
I’m not embarrassed to admit that there were times I was not
hired because an association decided to go with a far less
experienced attorney or firm who was simply cheaper in
price. Or….do you believe you get what you pay for?
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Size of the firm? Would you rather work
with a sole practitioner? Large law firm, small law firm?
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Do you care if the firm solely represents
community associations or should the firm also represent the
individual owners?
There are no wrong answers today. There is
however a tremendous amount of competition amongst law firms who
work in the community association arena, and perhaps all
associations would benefit by the attorneys knowing exactly what
each of you are looking for and how we can all serve you better.
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About
HOA & Condo Blog
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Eric Glazer graduated from
the University of Miami School of Law in 1992 after
receiving a B.A. from NYU. He has practiced community
association law for more than 2
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decades and is the owner of Glazer
and Associates, P.A. a seven attorney law firm with offices in
Fort Lauderdale and Orlando and satellite offices in Naples,
Fort Myers and Tampa.
Since 2009, Eric has been the host
of Condo Craze and HOAs, a weekly one hour radio show that airs
at noon each Sunday on 850 WFTL.
See:
www.condocrazeandhoas.com.
He is the first attorney in the
State of Florida that designed a course that certifies
condominium residents as eligible to serve on a condominium
Board of Directors and has now certified more than 10,000
Floridians all across the state. He is certified as a Circuit
Court Mediator by The Florida Supreme Court and has mediated
dozens of disputes between associations and unit owners. Eric
also devotes significant time to advancing legislation in the
best interest of Florida community association members.
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