Condo Media - May 2013 - 44

venDor sPotlight

Davis Malm & D’Agostine P.C.
Offering the Depth and Breadth of Knowledge to Handle All Your Association’s Legal Needs
by Pamela Schweppe

hirty-four years ago, when Davis
Malm & D’Agostine P.C. was
founded, a condominium lawyer’s
job consisted primarily of paying a visit to the Registry of Deeds. In
those days, condominiums were merely
an emerging concept in the real estate
industry. But those days are long gone.
Fortunately, the Boston-based legal
firm has stayed on the cutting edge
of condominium law as it has evolved
over the years and become ever more
complex.
Take Millennium Place in Boston, for
example. Who in 1979 could have foreseen a 1.9-million-square-foot, mixeduse complex with four governing
boards and an umbrella board? “There
are a lot of moving parts,” admits John
Ciolfi, general manager of Millennium
Place Primary Condominium, the umbrella organization. “The condo documents are the size of a phone book.”
In 2007, when Millennium Place was
entering litigation, a board member recommended that Samuel B. (Sandy) Moskowitz, a shareholder at Davis Malm,
serve as the association’s attorney. He is
now their general counsel. “As property
managers, we rely on attorneys to provide us with good information, so that
the board can make good decisions,”
Ciolfi says. “Davis Malm takes that to the
nth degree. It’s comforting to know that
you can just pick up the phone and your
attorney is going to do a thorough job.”

The Complexity
of Community

“It’s all about creating a community,”
says Moskowitz. “To me, that’s what a
condominium is.” That means under44

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standing what makes each association
unique — what its vision is and how it is
controlled and governed — then crafting
the documents to accomplish that vision.
Of course, condominium documents
are a big part of the business, but
specializing in condominium law also
means developing expertise in all the
issues that contribute to a community’s
quality of life. With its long experience
in the field, Davis Malm has in-depth
knowledge of a broad range of issues,
from the environment and financial
practices to zoning, development, and
land use. Common issues include collections, parking rights, boundary disputes, insurance, issues with neighbors,
and construction and repairs.
“Something most people who don’t
live in a condominium would never
think much about is pets. But pets become major issues in some condominiums,” reveals shareholder Howard S.
Speicher. Cell towers are also a consideration no one would have foreseen in
1979, requiring negotiations involving
leases, operation, and termination. “We
can take the most challenging situation, figure out what to do, and do it,”
Moskowitz says.
Sometimes, the shareholders of
Davis Malm are compelled to become
sleuths as well as attorneys. A specialist in litigation, Speicher recalls a case
in which he was representing the unit
owners of a 300-unit property that was
in the process of transitioning from
the developer to the association. But
the developer was refusing to disclose
crucial financial information. “It turned
out the developer was trying to keep
the unit owners from suing him by

keeping control of the board,” Speicher
says. “It was a five- or six-year process
and a series of litigations, but we were
able to bring the case to a successful
conclusion.” Adds shareholder J. Gavin
Cockfield, “We have the experience
and the ability to represent associations
with regard to those disputes.”
“Everything is in our wheelhouse,”
adds Paul L. Feldman, also a Davis
Malm shareholder. He notes further that founding partner Julian J.
D’Agostine was among the first to
redefine what real estate lawyers do by
broadening the scope of their practice.
For example, Davis Malm was among
the first legal firms involved in the
development of a facility using a condominium structure to provide multiple levels of care, from independent
residences to assisted living. “There
was a master condominium with subcondominiums, so there were different
components,” Feldman explains. “But
in terms of zoning, it was all one big
parcel. We had to be innovative to get
the job done.”

Building on Thinking
Outside the Box

To achieve successful results for their clients, the attorneys at Davis Malm pride
themselves on thinking creatively and
coming up with innovative solutions to
thorny problems. “When you represent
an association, you have to understand
what makes that community unique and
what their rights and responsibilities
are,” Moskowitz says. “Then you have
to be creative and pragmatic, to figure
out how to give the client what they
need in the simplest way.”

Condo Media - May 2013

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