How to find a Good Attorney: commercialking

One of the most persistent questions here on TCI is how to deal with the professionals, the attorney, the Real estate broker, the mortgage broker. “How much is too much to pay?” “Are Realtors the friend or the enemy?” “How can I find a mortgage broker who understands creative real estate?”

Answering the question, oddly enough, requires you to develop some understanding of how the Professional thinks, what his needs are, how his business runs. It’s just like negotiating with a seller. The real key to successful negotiation is


Advertisement

not in knowing the difference between a lease option and a short sale contract. It’s being able to get the seller to tell you what he wants and what he needs in a way where you can understand and decide whether you can give it to him.

One of my many hobbies is gardening. I’m not necessarily very good at it but I enjoy getting my hands dirty and eating food that I grew myself in my city rooftop garden, overcoming obstacles like not having any actual ground to plant things in. One of the things I’ve learned in gardening is that each kind of plant has its own characteristics. Some like sun, some prefer shade. Some will climb up anything, others cannot be made to climb at all. The secret to getting the look you want is to find the plant that likes to do what you want done. You can, if you wish, attempt to grow a sun-lover in a shadowy corner. But if you do they won’t be happy about it. And in the long run neither will you because you’ll always be complaining that the plant doesn’t do what you want it to do.

Lawyers come in many types (like plants). The key to getting one who you will be happy with is to find the one that has the characteristics you want. The problem is that most lawyers don’t have a clue about what kind of person they are. So they don’t know when to say, “I’m sorry but I just am not very good at that. You want to go find somebody else.” So as the boss (remember “client” is just a power play, keeps you in your place. You write the checks, you call the shots) you need to know what you want and how to eliminate the people that don’t fit the bill.

So, herewith an opening discussion of some of the major types and how to get them to flourish:

The Litigator

At the top of the food chain is the Litigator. This is the guy you see in all the lawyer movies. He thinks of himself as a fighter, going to bat for his clients in court. Unfortunately if you’re not involved in a lawsuit already he’s pretty worthless. Without the adrenalin of a court case he’s bored. He needs to have enemies, know who the opponent is, understand victory. But it is the litigator who most people think of when they go out to hire an attorney: “I want a real bulldog”. “I need somebody who will be a real tough guy.”

This is why realtors, and some investors, think that attorneys are the enemy. They put a certain amount of work into negotiating a contract, getting it down in writing and all signed and sealed only to have lawyers tear it apart and, frequently kill the deal. The lawyer thinks he’s protecting his client, in his world view you are the enemy, the opponent to be mastered. Remember this when you get your own attorney. If what you want to do is close deals you don’t want a litigator negotiating your contracts for you.

The litigator spends a lot of time researching the law on each case he handles because each case is different, each has its own intricacies, its own possibilities. He’s really expensive, but a good one gives you personal attention. When you need to sue because your seller backed out of your option on a $1.5 million deal and you’re stuck with tens of thousands in sunk costs this is the guy you want.

The Sweatshop

But like all “top of the food chain” animals the litigator is a rare breed. Most attorneys are of different species. For example there is the factory worker. This guy is just trying to make a living. He figures the answer is in specialization and production. This is great if what you want is the same thing over and over again. For example: evictions. Evictions are all pretty much the same. There is a tenant who is a bad guy (says the landlord) either because he’s failed to pay the rent or because he’s obnoxious in some other way. There’s a landlord who’s just trying to cut his losses and get this deadbeat out as quickly and as cheaply as possible. There’s a state law that governs how the eviction can be done.

In every big city there are a couple of firms that just do evictions. A good eviction attorney can handle 50 cases in a morning. He spends next to no time in researching the law because he already has mastered the intricacies of his jurisdictions’ eviction law. His business is about “churn ‘em out, don’t worry about the details or the individuals”. He wins almost all his cases because he’s a professional at this and he’s up against a bunch of amateurs.

Other examples: the guy who processes tax lien foreclosures. It’s a crank ‘em out kind of process. Even many real estate attorneys whose practice is almost all closings and whose review of the contract is pretty perfunctory are sweatshop kind of guys.

If what you want done is this kind of thing then the sweatshop attorney is your guy. Quite frankly, it’s a much better use of my time to be out doing deals or sailing or almost anything than driving across town and sitting around some courtroom waiting for my case to be called so I can evict a tenant. The sweat shop guy is already there, he doesn’t charge you for transportation, he works piecework. In the end he’s really cheap when you think about it.

The Dealmaker

Here’s a guy who’s not sure if he’s an attorney or an investor. He makes his living making deals happen. Buying a big apartment complex and need a guy to write a syndication agreement and help raise the money among the Limited Partners? Find a deal maker. Buying an old factory to knock down, rezone, deal with the EPA on the environmental problems and build condos? He’s your guy. He understands the complexity of these deals and has the political and economic connections to help get it done. He’s probably part of a big firm so he can farm out the mundane details like actually writing the partnership agreement. He’s not cheap and he’s just as likely to have his own self interests and/or those of his contacts ahead of yours but in the right deal he’s invaluable. What you are paying for here is his rolodex, not his legal expertise.

The Specialist

Here there are a whole group of sub-species: the guy who just does IRS work. the patient lawyer, the retirement plan specialist, the zoning change person. The trick here is that outside their specialty they are almost useless but inside they are a big help. This is probably the person you want. Dealing with foreclosures? Find someone who specializes in this. Buying paper and collecting? There are specialists in such things. Need a zoning change? In every area there are one or two firms which do 80% of them, hire one of those guys.

At first blush the specialist looks expensive. He has a higher than average hourly rate. But keep him inside his specialty and he’s a bargain because he doesn’t charge you for research time.

The Jack of all Trades.

Just want a guy who can review your contracts, keep you out of hot water, break the occasional deal that goes south without a follow up suit that costs you thousands? This is the bulk of the lawyers out there. They do a little of everything. Some real estate closings, some wills and probate, the occasional traffic ticket and the small stakes trial. Like most generalists they’re not terribly good at any of it but they are better than nothing—most of the time. I used to love to go against these guys pro se because they assume that since you’re not a lawyer you must be an idiot. But the fact of the matter is that a smart person willing to put in the hours to read the law can stand his own in this bunch most of the time. Get them outside an area where they have had a case and they’re not much smarter than the general public.

Well it’s not a comprehensive list by any means and I’d love to have others help out with their own sub-species. Feel free to comment with your own tales of woe or success, maybe even a few lawyer jokes. What do you call 12 lawyers buried up to their chins in crap? . . . . . “Not enough crap.”

Word Cloud:
review trying time done. have food without because firms outside think when about deals thinks like negotiating love they who’s these area seller you’re probably every over details there’s “how help what very some those lawyers writing know each researching somebody doesn’t things much understands /> at better mortgage it’s person attorney lawyer factory plant /> the call understand evictions. others people hire kind costs buying guy. spends here cases specialty need good time. already this many than estate city occasional professional case where opponent most bunch sweatshop cheap he’s zoning write types specialist want. deal thing want them needs inside guys. attorneys business eviction pretty even happy there real against find will they’re getting litigator whose really keep just climb option charge almost don’t with

The #1Real Estate InvestingCommunity

How to find a Good Attorney

The #1
Real Estate Investing
Community