Real Estate & Property Law

Where’s the Revolution?

Drastic changes in land use law were predicted after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Kelo ruling, but four years later, things don’t look that different.

Apr 2, 2009 3:10 AM CDT

I Didn’t Know What I Was Signing, Testifies ‘Ruined’ NC Real Estate Attorney

Taking the stand in her own defense in a massive federal mortgage fraud trial in Charlotte, N.C., a real estate attorney said she should have paid more attention to the closing documents she signed, many of which were prepared by paralegals. But she never intentionally falsified documents, Victoria Sprouse testified…

Apr 1, 2009 5:15 PM CDT

Next Wave in Mortgage Crisis: Abandoned Foreclosures

In many troubled housing markets, some mortgage holders are walking away from foreclosures, calculating that the costs exceed the value of the real estate. These bank walkaways often mean more financial problems for homeowners, who are now responsible for maintaining properties that had been abandoned and then vandalized, the New…

Mar 30, 2009 12:00 PM CDT

NY Lawyers & Dominatrix Accused of Running $50M Mortgage Fraud Scheme

In the news last month when he complained that authorities had searched his law office, a Long Island criminal, matrimonial and real estate attorney now has additional trouble on his agenda. Private practitioner George Guldi, 57, is accused of running, along with a dominatrix, her husband and two more New…

Mar 27, 2009 10:04 AM CDT

Why WolfBlock Didn’t Merge to Survive

Like other well-known law firms that have suddenly imploded, WolfBlock focused in recent months and years on finding a merger partner. But it never succeeded, and the partnership voted yesterday to wind up the more than 100-year-old law firm’s affairs. Three issues raised by the 300-attorney Philadelphia-based firm, at least…

Mar 24, 2009 10:58 PM CDT

Chicago-Based Arnstein & Lehr Acquires 7-Lawyer Fla. Firm

Following up on a previously announced plan of Florida expansion, Chicago-based Arnstein & Lehr is acquiring a seven-lawyer Coral Gables firm. All of the attorneys at Fieldstone Shear & Denberg will be joining Arnstein, and Ronald Fieldstone, David Shear and Michael Denberg will be joining as equity partners, according to…

Mar 24, 2009 8:46 PM CDT

BigLaw Firms Converge on Dubai: Jones Day Launches, CC Amps Up

Adding to an ongoing trend of looking to the Middle East for new legal business, two major international law firms are establishing a bigger foothold in Dubai. Jones Day has just announced that it will be opening an office there with six lawyers, reports Legal Week. They are: project finance…

Mar 24, 2009 1:00 AM CDT

WolfBlock Partners Vote to Dissolve; Many May Be Headed to Cozen O’Connor

After stunning news this morning that WolfBlock was on the verge of possible dissolution, the firm’s demise is now official. In a vote today, the partners decided to close the approximately 300-atttorney Philadelphia-based regional firm, reports Above the Law. While the firm, for which corporate real estate work has been…

Mar 23, 2009 9:03 PM CDT

Ex-RI Bar President Gives Up His Law License

The former president of the Rhode Island Bar Association has given up his law license and shuttered his Pawtucket law office. Richard Pacia is no longer practicing law, his criminal defense lawyer Anthony Traini told the Providence Journal. Pacia stepped down from his post as state bar president last month…

Mar 20, 2009 3:14 PM CDT

Client Loses, Attorney Wins: Jury Awards NY Lawyer $5K Per Hour

A lawyer who represented a tenant in a rent-stabilized apartment in New York City for almost three years initially got nothing for his work. Then, soon after attorney Steven DeCastro was fired by his client, Horace Turnbull, the holdout tenant accepted $1.7 million from his landlord to give up the…

Mar 19, 2009 7:14 PM CDT

5 L.A. Lawyers Leave Sonnenschein for Seyfarth Shaw

A second group has left the Los Angeles office of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal to practice at Seyfarth Shaw. Headed by Alan Yoshitake, who joins Seyfarth as a partner, the trusts and estates team also includes Mark Hansen and Edward McCaffery, who will be counsel there, and two associates, the…

Mar 16, 2009 9:48 PM CDT

Big Bank Files Mortgage Racketeering Suit Against Individual Borrowers

A major international bank has filed an unusual federal civil racketeering lawsuit in Seattle against a mortgage broker, an escrow agent–and 10 couples. It contends that they conspired to defraud ING Bank of $6 million by falsifying mortgage applications, reports the Seattle Times. However, the couples say that they, too,…

Mar 16, 2009 7:11 PM CDT

NJ Sues Multiple Lawyers in Alleged $18M Mortgage Racketeering Scam

A disbarred lawyer who lives in Montvale, N.J., and his son, as well as four other licensed attorneys have been accused of participating in an $18 million mortgage racketeering scam in a lawsuit filed by the state attorney general. The case concerns a claimed straw-buyer scam allegedly operated through Casey…

Mar 13, 2009 5:53 PM CDT

Lawyer Helps Smithsonian Find Secret Message on Abe Lincoln’s Gold Watch

On the day the Confederates fired on Fort Sumter, in a salvo that began the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln’s gold pocket watch happened to be in a repair shop in the Washington, D.C., area. So, the watchmaker later told his family—and, in 1906, the New York Times—he wrote a…

Mar 10, 2009 7:42 PM CDT

Dangerous Structure Needs Regulation: The Childhood Tree House

A iconic American childhood activity could be headed for the same fate as the dodo bird if medical researchers get their way. Tree houses are the source of some 2,800 childhood injuries annually and should be regulated, the experts suggest. “There are plenty of serious injuries if you look at…

Mar 10, 2009 12:44 AM CDT