WHEN YOU THINK YOU KNOW BETTER THAN YOUR LAWYER
- I get where you’re coming from—sometimes the legal review feels like it’s happening in a vacuum. Had a case last year where our attorney flagged a landscaping easement as a “potential liability,” but the city planner literally just wanted to see a rendering with more trees.
- There’s a balance between covering your bases and actually getting buy-in from the board or committee. Too much legalese and their eyes glaze over.
- On the flip side, I’ve had lawyers catch stuff I completely missed, like outdated setback requirements buried in some ancient CCRs. That saved us a ton of headaches down the road.
- Curious if anyone’s found a good way to bridge that gap? I’ve tried bringing both the lawyer and the project manager into early meetings, but sometimes it just adds more cooks to the kitchen...
WHEN YOU THINK YOU KNOW BETTER THAN YOUR LAWYER
Man, this is a classic headache. I’ve been in the trenches long enough to know both sides of this coin. There was a project a few years back—small infill, nothing fancy—where our attorney kept hammering on some obscure drainage easement. I was convinced he was overthinking it, since the city had already signed off on our plans. Turns out, a neighbor down the line had rights to run stormwater through that strip, and if we’d ignored it, we’d have been tied up in litigation for months. That one stung, but it taught me to at least hear them out.
But I get the frustration. Sometimes legal gets so deep in the weeds they miss the forest entirely. We had a meeting where legal and planning were both present, and it turned into a jargon tennis match. The rest of us just sat there watching them lob “indemnification” and “conditional use” back and forth. Not productive.
What’s worked for me—when I can pull it off—is having a pre-meeting with just the lawyer and PM before bringing everyone else in. Keeps the initial discussion focused, lets us hash out the big red flags, then we can translate that into plain English for the broader team. Cuts down on confusion and keeps meetings from spiraling.
Still, sometimes you just have to pick your battles. There are days when I push back on legal because I know what’ll fly with the city or the board, but other times I just bite my tongue and let them do their thing. It’s a balancing act, no way around it.
Funny thing is, the best lawyers I’ve worked with are the ones who admit when they don’t know something about the practical side. Makes it way easier to meet in the middle. The ones who act like they’ve built subdivisions themselves... those are the ones who drive me nuts.
WHEN YOU THINK YOU KNOW BETTER THAN YOUR LAWYER
The ones who act like they’ve built subdivisions themselves... those are the ones who drive me nuts.
Totally get this. I’ve had lawyers try to tell me what kind of wall finish is “best practice” for a fire corridor—like, thanks, but I’ll stick to my spec sheets. But I will say, the one time I ignored legal’s advice on ADA signage placement, it came back to bite me during inspection. Now I just double-check everything, even if it feels nitpicky. Saves a lot of headaches (and reprints) down the line.
WHEN YOU THINK YOU KNOW BETTER THAN YOUR LAWYER
I hear you on the nitpicky stuff. I once thought I could just “eyeball” the height for grab bars in a bathroom remodel—figured it was close enough to code. Inspector came through and, nope, had to redo it. Felt silly arguing about an inch or two, but apparently that’s a big deal. Now I double-check the legal side even if it feels overkill. Still think some of the rules are a bit much, though...
WHEN YOU THINK YOU KNOW BETTER THAN YOUR LAWYER
Totally get it—code can seem ridiculous until you’re the one redoing work. I’ve had to move an outlet literally two inches before because the plans didn’t match field conditions. Felt pointless, but the inspector was right, technically. Now I’m that guy with a tape measure double-checking everything, even if it means looking a little obsessive. It’s wild how much those “tiny” details matter… but man, some of these rules really do feel like they were made just to mess with us.