Real Estate & Property Law

Hiring Competent Counsel

By Alan Ackerman

Owners often have trouble finding competent counsel to represent them in condemnation cases.  All too frequently, they experience counsel that has worked for acquisition agencies, such as utilities, cities or counties.  An owner is probably best looking at an attorney which is viewed as the best in their own jurisdiction.  Are they listed in the 'Best Lawyers in America' in eminent domain?  Martindale also offers listings that rate lawyers in their own jurisdictions.  One thing owners can be sure of if the lawyer is not highly rated in the community he comes from, when he comes banging on the door, he may not be doing the best job in the owner's interest.    In other words, the best way to view a lawyer is find out how the lawyer's home community views that lawyer.
    
Governments have a very different problem.  Many acquiring agencies with small legal staffs do not have an expert to handle condemnation proceedings.  When this happens, the best thing the city counsel can do is hire outside the office.  An example of this is in Cape City, Florida, where the City Attorney, Dolores Menendez, recognized that she had to go outside in order to get a litigator to handle an eminent domain proceeding for the community.  Note her comment of how, in the long run, this would save funds.

Pine Island Eagle

Cape City Attorney Dolores Menendez said her office needs outside help in litigating concerning a Golf Club lawsuit because the city currently has no litigation attorney.
'When you're talking about legal service … you're talking about the quality of the legal service you're going to get,' Menendez said. 'In these two cases, it would be in the best interest of the city and the public to retain the service of an outside council.'
While Menendez's office continues to seek a full-time, staff litigator, Councilmember Marty McClain warned that not seeking the proper litigation team to defend the city could cause more harm in the long run. 'To lose a case like this would cost far more then to litigate it right. We want to make sure we have the right people doing the job,' McClain said.

Full post as published by National Eminent Domain Blog on September 08, 2010 (boomark / email).