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10
RESOLUTIONS SOME ATTORNEYS SHOULD HAVE MADE FOR 2014
By
Jan Bergemann
Published
January 10, 2014
In
this country it seems fashionable to make resolutions on New
Year – resolutions often forgotten after just a few days!
Since Eric described on Monday some resolutions owners should
have made for the New Year, here is my Top
Ten List of resolutions some
(not all) community association attorneys should have made for
the NEW YEAR:
10.) When people ask you for sound legal advice never forget: These folks didn’t pass the BAR exam – otherwise they wouldn’t ask you;
9.) Read the Rules of Professional Conduct if you have a few minutes;
8.) Always remember: Not only BAR certified attorneys know what’s right or wrong;
7.) When you give advice to board members, don’t write lots of pages in Legalese;
6.) Don’t conduct elections with the goal to keep the board members in power who hired you;
5.) When giving advice to boards, always remember the statutes and the governing docs, not just the private agenda of some board members;
4.) When giving advice to boards, don’t be guided by the thought of increasing billing hours;
3.) Never forget, considering all court rulings, about 50% of all attorneys are wrong;
2.) Give advice advantageous to the association members, not just your wallet;
And
the NUMBER 1 Resolution some association attorneys should have made (drum
roll):
-
Always
consider: The whole community pays the legal bills,
not just the few board members who hired you!
If
quite a few community association attorneys would have made –
and would follow -- these resolutions, a lot of owners of
properties within community associations would be much better
off financially in the year 2014 – and many future years to
come!
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Jan Bergemann is president of Cyber Citizens For Justice,
Florida
's largest state-wide property owners' advocacy group.
CCFJ works on legislation to help owners living in
community
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associations. He moved to
Florida
in 1995 - hoping to retire. He moved into a HOA, where the
developer cheated the homeowners and used the association dues
for his own purposes. End of retirement!
CCFJ was born in the year 2000, when some owners met in
Tallahassee
- finding out that power is only in numbers. Bergemann was a
member of Governor Jeb Bush's HOA Task force in 2003/2004.
The organization has two websites to inform interested
Florida
homeowners and condo owners:
News Website: http://www.ccfj.net/.
Educational Website: http://www.ccfjfoundation.net/.
We think that only owners can really represent owners, since all
service providers surely have a different interest! We are
trying to create owner-friendly laws, but the best laws are
useless without enforcement. And enforcement is totally lacking
in
Florida
!
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