I just returned from the 2018 Advanced Commercial Leasing Institute at Georgetown Law School. This two-day intensive seminar is an invitation-only program for 140 attorneys from the U.S. and Canada that covers the latest issues and trends in the industry and the latest lease provisions and techniques to deal with them.
A relatively small case, recently decided by the Louisiana state Court of Appeal for the Fifth Circuit illustrates two important principles: First, a court will often find a way to get around legal technicalities when they are being used by a party to achieve what the court perceives to be an unfair result; and Second, written contracts may always be modified orally or by the conduct of the parties, so be careful what you say and do after the ink is dry.
I recently attended the “9th Annual What’s Really Going On & Emerging Trends in Real Estate” conference sponsored by PWC and the Urban Land Institute. PWC annually conducts an extensive survey of business people and academics in the real estate field, and then produces a comprehensive and detailed report on the subject. This year’s report, “Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2018,” is almost 100 pages long, and is packed with statistics and analysis of the real estate capital markets, trends, patterns, and outlooks for both investment and development.
When your attorney is poring over every word of a purchase agreement that you are about to enter into, and you are getting frustrated with the way the attorney is fretting over small details, think about the case that partner Robert Steeg is about to describe. Your attorney is protecting your interests by worrying about the meaning of every phrase.
On June 5, 2017 our 11-month-old mixed-breed, flat-coated retriever escaped from our yard and was gone for 8 days. We got him back on June 13, 2017. He is fine. We were lucky. In case this ever happens to you, here is what I learned about how to try to get your dog back when he or she gets lost.
I recently attended the invitation-only Advanced Commercial Leasing Institute (ACLI) at Georgetown Law School. The annual ACLI program brings together 150 private-firm lawyers, company in-house counsel, and non-lawyer leasing professionals for two participatory days of presentations and discussions that explore important, timely issues in commercial leasing today.
A case decided by the Louisiana Court of Appeal for the Second Circuit in January of 2016, KM, Inc. v. Weil Cleaners, Inc., should be viewed as totally routine and utterly unremarkable. It followed several rules of law that are well established in both the cases and the Civil Code. Yet many landlords are unaware of these important rules and therefore continue to make mistakes that cause them to lose cases like this one.
Many property owners are generally familiar with the idea of deferring the taxable gain on the sale of real estate by applying the proceeds of the sale to the purchase of another parcel of like-kind property under Section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code—a so-called “Section 1031 exchange.” Steeg Law has helped many clients utilize this important provision of the tax code. There are a couple of ways to accomplish a Section 1031 exchange:
Take a look at my Top Fives listed below. Send me a response about what YOU would list in your Top Fives, and I'll add your responses to this blog post. I'll keep a running tally, and together we will find out what are everyone's favorites.
An interview with female poker player Annie Duke is tied to social science research on stereotypes and how we deal with them -- both from the point of view of the person being stereotyped, and from the point of view of the people who are doing the stereotyping. And that leads to valuable LESSONS that can be used in business or any other pursuit.
Even though is it a bit overdone, this television series deals head-on with several major issues of our day: racism; police misconduct; the criminal justice system; and the role of wealth and celebrity in our society. The shocking thing is that even though the series is set in 1994-95, the time of the murder of O. J. Simpson’s ex-wife Nichole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman, and Simpson’s trial for the murder, it could just as well have taken place last summer in Ferguson, Missouri or in Baltimore, Maryland.
The following article “Are Your Clients Exposed to Premises Liability for Third-Party Criminal Acts? A Top-10 List to Reduce Risks” by Norman W. Gutmacher appeared in Probate & Property Magazine and is a must-read for property owners, managers and landlords. It highlights an important issue for anyone who owns, manages or leases out real estate – the potential liability for attacks on customers or occupants while on or near the premises.
When a business transaction goes bad, can the person who has suffered a loss sue other persons involved in the transaction even though the injured person had no contractual relationship with those other persons? A recent case by the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal, Dufrene vs. Murphy Appraisal Services, LLC, demonstrates that the answer is yes, but there are important limits on this ability.
I have recently returned from KentPresents, a 2-day “idea festival” held in the beautiful town of Kent, Connecticut. Full details – and it’s well worth a look – at KentPresents.org. Seventy-two brilliant persons gave 1-hour presentations to the 300 attendees, on subjects ranging from politics, government, and diplomacy to genetics, technology, medicine, and art. The presentations were loosely arranged around the theme of “What Comes Next?”
