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Law Times • June 14, 2010 FOCUS Real estate group adopts new focus Dialogue needed with financial institutions to facilitate legal advice BY DARYL-LYNN CARLSON For Law Times cant headway in streamlining the way lawyers conduct busi- ness in the province. While the group's main T mandate has been to introduce standard real estate transaction documents and make them ac- cessible provincewide, its work doesn't stop there. Next on the group's list of self- appointed mandates is to revive the dialogue with banks, which constituted a natural relationship for real estate lawyers up until sev- eral years ago with the consolida- tion and centralization of fi nan- cial institutions across Canada. "We are now trying to get in contact with banks to deal with mutual issues as over the years we've lost contact with banks," says Raymond Leclair, co-chair- man of the working group and vice president of TitlePLUS. "We want to be able to open a dialogue with the banks to deal with mutual issues because that is not happening as often as we would like," Leclair says. "As the banks centralized over the years and pulled everything back into mortgage processing centres and discharge preparation centres, that contact has dwindled, so we're hoping as a group to fi nd a way to re-establish talks on issues that are important to both of us." Leclair says it's important for lawyers to be able to have credible dialogue with bankers, especially to facilitate informative services for aging baby boomers, many of whom are seeking to downsize their assets to condominiums, to ensure they're getting good value in the transaction. "Th e idea is simply to get a channel of communication open so we can address issues of mutu- al concern," says Leclair. "So that is our next focus as a group." While the working group was originally established af- ter mortgage lenders began outsourcing to large corporate intermediaries, which made it diffi cult for lawyers to serve cli- ents knowledgeably, it's prob- ably so far best known for in- troducing standard closing real estate transaction documents MOVES & SHAKES is online! Visit us at canadianlawyermag.com/ Moves-and-Shakes.html to keep up with your colleagues' comings and goings. It's updated daily. moves@clbmedia.ca Email your moves and shakes to: Untitled-3 1 www.lawtimesnews.com 6/8/10 2:56:39 PM Powered by: he Working Group on Lawyers and Real Es- tate is making signifi - throughout the province. Th e working group also in- cludes members of the Ontario Bar Association, the County & District Law Presidents' Asso- ciation, and the Ontario Real Estate Lawyers Association. Th e documents are available on the working group's web site. Leclair says the group also receives dozens of phone calls daily from lawyers looking for the document to facilitate a real estate transaction. However, he notes that most regional law associations haven't yet formally adapted the document. "Lawyers have been calling regularly and have been show- ing interest to adopt these," Leclair says. Still, the people at the helm of the group aren't dejected that out of 46 counties in the prov- ince, only two jurisdictions, Bar- rie and Ottawa, have formally adopted the documents in or- der to promote them to local practitioners. Th e group is indeed perse- vering. "Th is is a major focus that we've been working on," Leclair says. He notes the documents have been standardized in software format by lawyerdonedeal.com and are readily available for pur- chase online. Th e working group has also provided fee guidelines and practice tips to assist real estate lawyers with their work. Michael Johnston of Stew- art Corbett Law Offi ce in Brockville, Ont., recently be- came involved in the working group. He did so after realizing the value of streamlining the format of documents for real estate transactions, particularly when conducting business in other jurisdictions outside of his immediate area. "If I am doing a transaction The working group is trying to open dialogue with the banks on mutual issues, says Raymond Leclair. in Windsor, if I can rely on the consistency of a standardized document, it is a huge advan- tage," he says. Johnston suggests the standard documents might take some time to win acceptance by law- yers, although he's optimistic that will happen, even among the most traditional lawyers, due to the convenience of using them. "I think they're catching on and being generally accepted across the province," he says. "It will make the conveyance work in real estate much easier when there's a uniform stan- dard that everybody knows and can understand." For some lawyers, he notes, it will simply take time for them to adjust. "Lawyers who aren't computer-friendly won't be able to get up to speed to access the documents," he acknowledges. "It's not that we're seeing resis- tance; it's just a matter of lawyers who have done things a certain way for years getting used to the change. It's an evolution that will take time but it's all good." LT PAGE 11 LegalSTEPS® – the conveyancing application that works the way you do. Put your mind at ease with LegalSTEPS® – Stewart Title's user-friendly, web-based conveyancing application. Extensive consultation and testing with real estate law firms during development have led to an application design that offers a step-by-step approach to com- pleting transactions naturally and intuitively. Complete real estate documents and order title insurance from one flexible, customizable application. Keeping real estate transactions where they belong – in your office. 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