Limiting Your Liability in a Law Office Lease

In the late 1980's lenders began tightening their financial security requirement for tenants. This gave landlords recourse against the personal assets of individual partners of law firms in the event the law firm owed further obligations under the lease. Today, partners must be aware of the issues related to personal liability and resolve them during the negotiating process.

When signing a lease that requires the partners of your firm to personally guarantee the lease, you should seek to "cap" the amount. It is common leasing practice for landlords to agree to cap the aggregate personal liability for each partner of a law firm. However, determining the amount of the cap is negotiable. Usually the cap amount is based on the value of monetary concessions granted to the law firm under the lease. Sometimes this amount will include lost rent for the period in which the landlord attempts to relet the premises.

Once the liability cap is determined you should negotiate a clause that periodically reduces the cap amount. You should also restructure the personal liability from "joint and several liability" to "several liability." Therefore, each partner is only liable for a severed amount of the liability cap equal to that partner's proportionate ownership interest in the partnership.

Controlling the terms of the lease is largely attributable to bargaining leverage. If your firm has leverage over the landlord you should insist on a non-recourse lease. A non-recourse lease provides that the landlord has no recourse against the assets of the individual partners when exercising its rights and remedies pursuant to the lease. In other words, the landlord can only recover from the assets of the firm and any security rendered. Any landlord will resist releasing partners from liability, but if you have the leverage use it.

Under California law partners who are added to a partnership after the execution of the lease are not subject to personal liability, unless written otherwise. As such, landlords will insist on subjecting new partners to personal liability and/or require that withdrawing partners remain liable. The financial viability of a law firm is squarely attributable to the income generated by each partner; therefore a landlord will be concerned about adding and releasing partners without liability.

As a compromise you should try to negotiate a clause that releases retiring, deceased, incapacitated or withdrawing partners from personal liability in exchange for new partner's liability. The end result may hinge on whether you are negotiating a lease for a large or small firm. For large national firms the lease may set minimum numbers of liable partners. For smaller firms the landlord may insist certain key partners remain liable, even after they withdraw.

Adding and releasing partners can be a contentious issue, but negotiating a favorable clause is extremely valuable. Planning for the real estate needs of a law firm requires that you think long-term. It is important for the growth and flexibility of any firm that new partners can be added so that old ones can fade away. Before negotiating a limit on liability it is advisable that you speak to a Los Angeles real estate attorney.

What Are the Paralegal Duties in a Law Office?

No matter how busy an attorney is, a paralegal is always going to do the bulk of the paperwork that is needed for any case. Even if the case does not go to trial or if it is a financial matter, there are going to be briefs and documents that are going to need to be put together. This is typically done by this position with the help of a legal secretary.

In smaller offices where there is no legal secretary, the paralegal duties are going to include typing up all documents that pertain to any case. In larger offices, this duty can many times be shared or even delegated to the legal secretary. This is truly dependent upon the size of the office and in some cases the experience level of the paralegal. Many times the newer ones are going to have to work their way up to the more interesting tasks.

Another of the many paralegal duties is to find case histories for the attorney so that they can concentrate on the case itself. This means that they are going to have to have great research skills as many times they are going to be required to look through many cases to find the right precedence that is going to fit the case. Many find this aspect of the job the most rewarding as well as challenging part of the job.

They are also going to take statements from witnesses and clients and put together all documents to be ready for trial. It is important for them to have great organizational skills for this part of the job. In most cases, they are also going to do all the court filing after the attorney and clients have signed off on the documents.

There are either many ways to be certified or a full degree in paralegal studies. There are three types of accreditation for those who study this field. They are the certification, an associate's degree and a bachelor's degree. Each takes a different amount of time with certification being the shortest and the bachelor's degree being the longest. All of these can be taken at an accredited online school in order to make it easier on the student.

Being a paralegal can be a rewarding career choice for those who want to work at a law office but who are not interested in becoming an attorney. They do most of the legwork so the attorney can be available for all litigation. They can go online to get any schooling that they need in order to get a job in this field.

The Build Out in a Law Office Build-Out Situation

Typically law firms and landlords will negotiate a tenant improvement allowance ("TI Allowance") for the construction of the physical space. The amount of the TI allowance is hot button for negotiation and is generally calculated by the square foot. The more you get the better. Since a build-out requires a large initial outlay of capital, who controls construction is highly negotiated.

There are two main options for the build-out, a landlord controlled construction and a tenant controlled construction. The terms of the build-out will usually be specified in the "work letter." Each has its advantages and disadvantages. A landlord controlled construction alleviates the hassles and complications associated with construction, but transfers control of the construction to the landlord.

If you require unique improvements or have a strict dead-line this option may not be optimal. A tenant controlled construction gives you more control over the improvements, but comes with added responsibility and time commitment.

This option is not advisable if you lack experience, therefore you should contact a real estate attorney to discuss the ramifications of controlling the build-out. Either way, it is important that your office look the way you want because you have to work there.