To become a condominium lawyer, you must first become a lawyer under the rules in your relevant country or state. You must learn the skills required to become a condominium lawyer. Finally, you must build up a roster of clients who are willing to hire you as their condo attorney and establish a reputation within the community so you can obtain more clients and grow your practice.
The first step to becoming a condominium lawyer, therefore, is to get your required education. In the United States, a bachelor’s degree is required prior to attending law school. After graduating from college, you can then go on to get your law school degree.
Law school is a three-year process within the US. There are no specializations to become a condominium lawyer within the United States, so you will just need to obtain a general law degree. Still, although you cannot necessarily specialize in the specific type of law, there are certain classes you should take in law school to help you become a condominium lawyer.
Condo lawyers typically help condo owners and condo boards to negotiate and come to agreements. For example, a condo lawyer may help a condo owner having problems with his condo board on a specific issue, such as condo policy or condo fees and dues. While this can sometimes rise to the level of litigation, most often the condo lawyer aims to negotiate an agreement out-of-court.
Because of the importance of negotiation, to become a condominium lawyer, you may wish to take courses of negotiation and settlements in law school. Since condo lawyers may occasionally find themselves in courtrooms if negotiations break down, moot court classes and civil procedure classes can also be helpful so you will be prepared to argue in court and know the rules. Finally, a lot of condo disputes arise from contract law, so taking contract law classes in law school can be helpful.
Upon graduating from law school, you will need to begin to build your practice to become a condo lawyer. If you wish to work with individual condo owners, this involves getting a reputation within the community so that condo owners will call you when they have a problem or dispute. You can do this by advertising, or by publishing papers or documents on condo issues, giving lectures on the issues, or even working for legal aid societies and volunteer organizations that pair people with housing problems with attorneys.
If you wish to represent condo boards, you can begin to contact condo associations within your area. You will need to demonstrate your skills and experience in order to be hired by these associations. This means that generally before you become a condo lawyer, you will need to work for a law firm that has condos as clients so you can get experience and develop a reputation and knowledge within the specific industry.
