An easement is the right to use another’s property for a specified purpose. It’s a property right, but ownership does not transfer. Easements are common and tend to impact the value and usefulness of your property. The most common easements are for access, but there are view easements, utility easements, and other types as well. Disputes over easements are also common and may require experienced real estate litigation to protect your property rights. A property owner may deny the existence of an easement and attempt to stop another person from using their land. Or two property owners may disagree on the specific terms of an easement. Our attorneys have extensive experience in all aspects of easements, from drafting clear easement documents to litigating complex easement disputes.

Our attorneys have experience in all aspects of financing. We regularly advise private and nonprofit clients concerning financing major commercial projects, working closely with our business law attorneys when transactions involve business acquisitions, ownership changes, or corporate structuring.  Some of these projects have public elements, so we also advise clients in bond financing transactions.  Our background in financing is very diverse.  Given our experience in representing banks and the private loan sector, we have a unique insight into how financing terms should be structured to get the best results.

To the casual observer, leases are often long and filled with boilerplate language.  But our attorneys understand they are complex documents that address numerous issues that may arise over the life of the lease.  Since leases often continue for many years, this means that these documents are important to both parties.  Our attorneys are intimately familiar with the nuances of leases and how the myriad of issues should be addressed.  Whether it is a ground lease, a retail lease, an office lease, a restaurant lease, warehouse or another industrial lease, cannabis lease, or any other form of a residential or commercial lease, we have the knowledge of the issues to help you navigate through the issues and have included protective language and critical provisions.

Purchasing or selling and sometimes developing and building on real property often requires navigating land use permitting and zoning requirements before a project can move forward.  Whether it involves a home, a plat of houses, an office building, a shopping center, a mixed-use development, apartments, condominiums, a warehouse or other industrial building, raw or vacant land, with or without utilities, the legal issues in acquiring or selling property and developing or building on it are important and often complex.  Commercial developments may also involve SEPA and environmental issues that affect project approvals and due diligence. For these transactions, clients need an advocate who is familiar with the risks, issues, and complexities and how to protect the client against those risks.  Our attorneys regularly represent buyers and sellers and can do so effectively because we know the issues from both parties’ points of view.  If permits or development approvals are denied, our attorneys can also assist with land use administrative appeals. We can help the client and its broker structure the deal, as well as due diligence, financing, and closing the transaction.