Title, Title and More Title (2021 Real Property Section Program)

8:55 Welcome and Introductions

9:00 The Power of Geographic Information Services (GIS)^‡

Hope Morgan, AECOM, Raleigh
Dawn Perry, Orange County Tax Administration, Hillsborough

We all know we are not supposed to rely on GIS maps for our legal opinions, so what can we use them for? Gain insight into what a GIS is and the difference between GIS maps and surveys. Then discuss how to use survey technology such as a GIS database or Google Earth.

10:00 Break

10:10 Creating Condominiums: A Practical Guide

William A. "Will" Anderson III, Kennon Craver PLLC, Durham

Dive into all the details you never knew about creating condominiums — from assembling the team to sales and marketing, all the way through project closeout. Hear a few stories from the trenches along the way, as we use a project timeline as a guide to the process.

11:10 Break

11:20 Common Defects: How Did THAT Happen?

Lanée Borsman, Hutchins Law Firm, Fayetteville

Examine all of the common defects in title and get tips on how to cure them — from legal descriptions to the chain of title to notary acknowledgments and sidebars in between. Then reflect on statutes, new and old, as well as title case law. Review the common errors made and receive practical advice on how to clean up those mistakes.

12:20 Lunch Break

12:50 Working With Paralegals^*

Maggie S. Davis, Mann McGibney & Jordan PLLC, Raleigh
Jim Duley Doerfler, Mann McGibney & Jordan PLLC, Raleigh

We all rely on paralegals to abstract and clear title. They increase our efficiency and make our business more profitable, but how can we create professional relationships that make us better lawyers? This session explores the relationship between real estate attorney and paralegal, answering questions about the correct level of supervision and who supervises whom.

2:20 Break

2:30 Hacking Into History: Race, History and Restrictive Covenants

Tia Hall, Yinsome Group LLC, Durham
Tim Stallmann, Research Action Design LLC, Durham
James Tabron, Durham County Register of Deeds, Durham
Andrew R. Wagner, Robinson Bradshaw, Chapel Hill

Race-based restriction language in covenants is no longer enforceable and its existence remains a reminder of discrimination for people of color. Walk through the public-private partnership being used by the Durham County Register of Deeds Office to identify homeowners' association covenants with a history of race-based restrictions and the active steps being taken to strike the language.

4:00 Adjourn

* Indicates portion providing Ethics/Professional Responsibility credit
‡ Indicates portion providing Technology Training credit

Thank you

Thank you for joining us for Title, Title and More Title (2021 Real Property Section Program).

Description

In our daily practice as real estate attorneys, we frequently encounter title issues.

Contributors

William A. "Will" Anderson III

William A. "Will" Anderson III concentrates on commercial real estate law with Kennon Craver PLLC in Durham. He has extensive experience representing real estate developers, investors and homebuilders with the acquisition, financing, development, leasing, and disposition of various projects, including large mixed-use projects and public-private partnerships. He counsels his clients on the range of issues related to these transactions, including those arising with condominiums.

Will has negotiated numerous leases for commercial landlords and tenants. In addition, he represents land trusts and private landowners in land conservation transactions involving purchases, conservation easements and charitable gifts.

Will has served on community boards and currently does pro bono work to support local organizations focused on issues important to him, including land conservation, the arts, and assisting the underprivileged.

Will has been named in Best Lawyers in America© (2011-2018), Real Estate Law. He has regularly been named (including 2020) one of the Legal Elite (Real Estate) by Business North Carolina magazine.

Will earned his B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law.

Click here for more information about Will.
Lanée Borsman

Lanée Borsman is a partner with Hutchens Law Firm in the Fayetteville office. She practices in the areas of foreclosure, litigation and title curative. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina — Chapel Hill in 1990 and her law degree from the Wake Forest University School of Law in 1993.

Lanée is a member of the North Carolina Bar Association, the Cumberland County Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association and the Title Insurance Litigation Committee of the American Bar Association.

Lanée has served on the Board of Directors for both the LAP Foundation and the Lawyers' Assistance Program of the NC State Bar and is currently a volunteer with that program's outreach and education efforts.

Click here for more information about Lanée.
Maggie S. Davis

Maggie S. Davis graduated from law school at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in 2011 and has been practicing real estate in some form or fashion ever since.

Maggie's practice included estate planning, estate administration, and advising small business owners for many years before she joined Mann, McGibney & Jordan in Raleigh. At MMJ, she narrowed her practice to residential real estate transactions and now heads the title team of this high volume residential real estate firm. Each day is like a real property question from the Bar exam, and she loves the constant challenge.
Jim Duley Doerfler

Jim Duley Doerfler has worked as a real estate paralegal for 25 years, joining Mann McGibney & Jordan PLLC in 2016 where he is lead paralegal on the title and post-closing team. He misses the days before email but finally got rid of the manual typewriter and carbon paper.

Click here for more information about Jim.
Tia Hall

Tia Hall is a native of Washington, D.C. and graduate of Manhattanville College. Tia works from an ideology that all people have assets and strengths that contribute to the wholeness and overall health of their community. Tia's 30+ year work history encompasses bank management, graphic design entrepreneurship, university researcher/ developer, community organizer and Reiki Practitioner.

Tia has served as a member of Durham's inaugural Racial Equity Taskforce. She owns her own consulting firm that centers wholeness, healing and racial equity.

Click here for more information about Tia.
Hope Morgan

Hope Morgan has been working in the remote sensing and GIS field for 23 years. Hope is currently the Technical Excellence Lead for the Geospatial Domain as well as the Geospatial Delivery Service Manager for Flood Solutions East with AECOM. Her responsibilities include, Floodplain Mapping Survey, Floodplain Mapping Productions, Terrain Creation, and CNMS. Current projects include: Rail analysis with GIS and Lidar to determine depth of flooding on rail systems during events, Risk planning and data analysis needed for flood impacted areas. Her past experience includes: collecting statewide Lidar for North Carolina, collection of over 5 million structures for the state of NC, working with GIS data and applications for floodplain mapping and Emergency Management, Real time gage readings and integration into applications, UAV collection during events, flight planning and emergency event aerial collections as well as hazard risk information used for Mitigation and Planning.

Being a Professional Land Surveyor (PLS) was a big step in Hope's career. She understands the value of highly accurate information on development of land, impact of flooding, and movement of the earth's surface for things such as transportation of building construction. As a GISP, Hope understands the value and efficiency of planning tools and the level of data necessary to plan vs. to build. These two tasks work together not independently.

Click here for more information about Hope.
Dawn Perry

Dawn Perry has worked with Land Records and property mapping for over 20 years. She started her career in the private sector helping to convert paper maps into a digital base layer for multiple jurisdictions across the state. She moved into the public sector where she worked for over ten years in the Land Records department in Durham County and most recently has been working in the Land Records/GIS department of Orange County for the last five. She currently serves as the president of the North Carolina Property Mapper Association.
Brian Register

Brian Register is a partner at Smith Debnam and member of the firm's Business Law practice group. He concentrates his practice in the areas of Commercial Real Estate, Corporate Law, and Business Law.

Before joining Smith Debnam in 2018, Brian worked as a law partner at Brownlee Whitlow & Praet PLLC where he built a substantial real estate practice focused on real estate transactions, landlord/tenant law, and private lender representation.
Tim Stallmann

Tim Stallmann is a cartographer based in Durham, NC. By day, he's a worker-owner at Research Action Design (RAD.cat), where he works with organizations and communities to co-design research, media and tech projects towards social change and collective liberation. His work focuses on the role maps and geographic data can play in addressing issues of racial, economic and environmental justice, especially stopping displacement and building neighborhood self-determination. Tim is a founding member of the Counter-Cartographies Collective, and a co-editor of A People's Atlas of Detroit (Wayne State University Press, 2020).

Click here for more information about Tim.
James Tabron

James Tabron is an assistant register in the Durham County Register of Deeds Office. In addition to land records management, James regularly pursues interests in community engagement, equity, and travel.

James is a graduate of UNC Chapel Hill and currently resides in Durham.
Andrew R. Wagner

Andrew R. Wagner practices civil litigation and environmental law. As a litigator, Andrew represents clients in state and federal court in an array of matters, including contract disputes, trade secret protection, employment issues, environmental matters and class actions. He has experience at all stages of litigation, including pre-suit investigations, discovery, motions practice and appeals.

As an environmental attorney, Andrew guides clients through the maze of environmental regulatory compliance. He advises clients on the environmental aspects of corporate transactions, and represents them in environmental litigation and agency negotiations.

Andrew is a member of the Environment, Energy & Natural Resources Law Section of the North Carolina Bar Association. He received his B.A. degree, magna cum laude, from Wheaton College in 2013 and his J.D. degree, magna cum laude, from Duke University School of Law in 2018.

Andrew regularly represents pro bono clients in consumer protection and housing cases. He is a graduate of The Second City Conservatory, the country's leading training program for sketch comedy.

Click here for more information about Andrew.