Mr. Pope likes to think of himself as a problem solver more than a transactional attorney given his experience in finding pragmatic solutions to often complex problems. This skill set has served him well in his two decades of representing parties in real estate and business transactions. He advises clients in all aspects of real estate and business transactions including: acquisitions, sales, leases, financing, development, title insurance, boundary issues, environmental compliance, and entity formation matters.
What attracted you to the idea of practicing law?
Growing up in a busy house with 3 younger siblings (and now with two teenage boys of my own), I naturally found myself mediating disputes, searching for common ground, and finding creative solutions for problems, both big and small. When it came time to pick a career path, becoming a transactional attorney just felt right.
When did you start practicing law as a licensed attorney?
September of 1999
In five sentences or less, will you explain something that is complicated, but you know well?
In a commercial lease setting, one of the most often overlooked (but critically important) lease provision is the method of allocating and measuring the square footage of the leased premises, as the square footage directly impacts key items such as the base rent amount, the tenant’s share of operating expenses, and any allowance for tenant improvements. Fairly recently, the industry standard in measuring leased space developed by the Building Owners and Managers Association (“BOMA”), revised its BOMA Office Standard, which is used for measuring rentable space in new and existing commercial buildings. One of the biggest changes was to include major vertical penetrations (such as ground floor elevator shafts, floor openings for stairs and escalators, vertical ventilation ducts and pipe shafts), private balconies, covered galleries, and rooftop terraces into the usable space calculation. A tenant or landlord represented by experienced real estate counsel may be able to negotiate into the lease agreement certain remeasurement conditions and rights, thereby potentially impacting tens of thousands of dollars over the entire lease term.
Can you name any skills or personality traits that you think are needed in your kind of practice that might differ from other practices?
Organization and management skills are especially important in a transactional practice as you are working with numerous (sometimes fluid) deadlines, while managing the work of professionals such as surveyors, engineers, title agents, escrow agents, lenders, environmental consultants, and inspectors.