Happy March 2023!
What exciting and unprecedented times for a real estate lawyer.
For those of us who have been practicing for longer than we’d like to admit, we
are seeing new issues and dilemmas arising, as we tackle wide-ranging impacts
and reverberations in real estate and land use, ranging from cannabis
legalization to climate change. Due to COVID-19, we’ve witnessed a generational
shift in measuring productivity, with the almost certain likelihood that remote
is here to stay, as so many of us are now working remotely for part of their
workweek.
While many of these new land use issues create challenges for
clients and their lawyers, they also offer us new opportunities, and may help
make our sometimes staid practice area more interesting and relevant to fellow
legal professionals. REBA is at the forefront of these issues, offering members
valuable information and guidance, including section-sponsored webinars and CLE
programs at the Spring Conference in May and Annual Meeting and Conference in
November, on topics such as siting cannabis facilities, and the Net Zero
Stretch Energy Code. Indeed, we’re even relaunching REBA News –after 20
years as a supplement to Lawyers Weekly – in an electronic format,
available on the web site and emailed monthly to members, to help us ensure
that content for our members is timely and truly newsworthy.
This moment of unprecedented change in real estate and land
use dovetails with REBA’s ongoing mission to increase and diversify its membership,
ensuring the Association’s continued future growth and success. Of course, this
is true for real estate practice overall, but particularly for REBA’s ability
to attract newer professionals – both legal and non-lawyer professionals – and
to welcome diversity in our ranks, so that REBA more closely reflects the
composition of the bar across Massachusetts. REBA, like any organization,
benefits from a more diverse membership, hopefully ensuring a continuity of
leadership, ideals, and mission continuing long after many of us have decided
we just can’t take the excitement anymore. Achieving these goals is more
possible than ever with REBA’s remote capabilities, as our members can
conveniently and easily attend webinars and section meetings in all parts of
the Commonwealth, as we move our 150-year-old organization into the future.
With REBA, as in much of life, what you give is what you
get. I urge you to support REBA in whatever capacity you can. Join a section;
participate in CLE programming; attend a webinar. Personally, my goal this year
is to attend as many REBA webinars as possible – and with remote Zoom programs,
it’s so convenient. For one example, this past month, I attended the Paralegal
and Title Insurance Sections’ joint webinar with the Land Court’s Chief Title
Examiner Christina Geaney. It was an outstanding program, with Ms. Geaney
providing valuable information, insights, and tips from her office on a range
of topics that would be of great value to any practitioner.
I look forward
to seeing you soon, at the Spring Conference in May or remotely, to hear about
your experiences and increased involvement with REBA.
Till next
time
