Summary: Learn more about what it is like to be a Real Estate attorney in this article.

What Does a Real Estate Attorney Do?
 
  • This practice area category covers everything having to do with real property, real estate, real estate development and leasing.
  • It includes housing law, commercial development projects, residential development projects, real estate financing, real estate sales, and real estate rentals, as well as the various rights among owners, buyers, and tenants.
  • This practice also involves government because real estate attorneys also help their clients manage the local and state approval processes.
  • Real estate law involves finance issues (representing borrowers and lenders) and transactional issues (negotiation and documentation of transactions).
  • Transactional attorneys deal with helping their clients lease property, purchase and sell property and also deal with issues like easements.
 

Why Do Real Estate Attorneys Enjoy Their Jobs?
 
  • Real estate attorneys often enjoy the sense of accomplishment from seeing various projects completed.
  • Many of the projects that real estate attorneys work on can involve large projects that are visible and talked about.
  • Much of the work on the transactional side can be done and finished quickly, which means work does not languish for months.
  • There is always a healthy demand for real estate attorneys in most economies, and this provides some level of employment security.
  • Real estate attorneys also have the ability to go in-house without too much difficulty with developers and other real estate concerns.
 
What Are the Difficulties of Being a Real Estate Attorney?
 
  • This practice area can involve work that attorneys find boring and repetitive.
  • There is a lot of repetition involved with leases, purchase agreements, and other matters that attorneys work on.
  • This repetition is something that can make the work boring and unsatisfying for attorneys after they have been doing the work for some time.
 
How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as a Real Estate Attorney?
 
  • This is a very healthy practice area for attorneys to lateral in.
  • It has a high enough barrier to entry that when firms get busy, they need people to do the work.
  • This practice area is one where it is also not that difficult for attorneys to attract clients and build books of business once they get to know developers and others.
  • Attorneys with this experience can also more often move between firms as senior attorneys (without books of business) than they can in other practice areas.