As we all know, time is money. That is especially true when seeking legal advice for your community association. A lawyer’s time and advice are their stock in trade. Often, community association communications are lacking in details and factual content necessary for your attorney to render timely and thorough legal advice. This creates the need for significant back and forth before the attorney can give the advice, which translates into unnecessary time delays and fees.
Here are some helpful tips I have compiled over the years that can help reduce your legal fees and the time it takes for your attorney to respond to an issue:
When emailing the attorney:
- Please always put the full name of your association in the subject line of the email. Even though we may know you, it helps us to keep track of your emails and your issues. For managers who represent multiple communities, this is imperative.
- Please keep the email chain going. Try to avoid starting separate email chains regarding the same topic or issue. This again helps us keep track of your emails and your issues.
- Give full names, first and last, and their connection to the association. I have received emails explaining that “Joe” said this, and “Mary” did that. Who is Joe? Who is Mary? And what is their connection to the association? I once read a very lengthy email thinking all the time that “Joe” was a resident, only to later learn that “Joe” was the landscape vendor.
- Tell the whole story. Give us the background and what led to the issue today. Be as complete as possible, don’t hold anything back (good or bad), and attach all relevant documents.
- Try to end your email with your question. What is it you are specifically requesting?
- Once you get the attorney’s advice, there is no shame in asking follow-up questions if you do not understand what to do.
- If you have been asked to “Reply All” to an email, please reply all. There is a reason you were asked to do that. Usually, it is to keep the attorney’s staff thoroughly informed and ready to help.
- Use one email address for yourself. Often, a board member will email me from their “board” email account and then switch to emailing me from their personal email account. This makes it very difficult to keep track of the issue.
Sometimes it is better to just pick up the phone and call the attorney if the situation is too complicated or is getting muddled via email. Better yet, contact the attorney or their assistant and schedule a telephone or Zoom conference with the attorney, so that full attention can be given to your issue at a scheduled date and time. Provide all facts and supporting documentation prior to the appointment so that the attorney can be prepared.
Other tips for communicating with the association attorney include having one or, at most, two authorized points of contact with the attorney. This avoids the shock you may experience when receiving the bill for the attorney to discuss matters with multiple people. Also, have a system in place whereby legal issues are discussed internally and approved to be sent to the attorney, so board members are not later surprised that the attorney was contacted. Your manager can be a good gatekeeper regarding what topics need to be sent to the attorney.
Hopefully these tips can help you more effectively (and economically) communicate with your community association attorney.
