Cooperative and condominium boards have been our core clients for decades. We serve as general counsel to boards and managing agents, advising on bylaws and proprietary leases, house rules, alterations and sublets, transfers and refinancing, sponsor disputes, and the questions that come up between board meetings. When a shareholder, unit owner, or sponsor leaves no other option, we represent the board in litigation as well. Because we sit on the board's side of the table all year, we understand how these buildings actually operate.
Day to day, that means being available for the calls that can't wait for the next meeting — a difficult shareholder, an alteration gone wrong, an insurance or building-staff issue, a question about what the board can and cannot do. We give boards clear, practical answers grounded in their governing documents and in New York's cooperative and condominium law.
We also help boards plan rather than only react: updating dated bylaws, house rules, and proprietary leases; structuring underlying mortgage refinancings; and advising on capital projects, transfer policies, and sponsor relationships. Good governance prevents most disputes, and we would rather help a board avoid a problem than litigate it later.
Our partners have served on cooperative boards themselves and act as legal advisers to industry groups representing tens of thousands of units of co-op and condo housing. That involvement keeps us close to the legislative and regulatory changes affecting these communities, and it informs the advocacy we bring to the boards we represent.