Deal Making Caring Attorney

Look at the title to this post again:

DEAL MAKING CARING ATTORNEY

Is this a golden unicorn I’m talking about?

No, I’m referring to a young lawyer my spouse found nearly ten years ago.

In that time, he’s:

-helped clients of mine close countless real estate deals

-completed severances and other planning applications with minimum pain, maximum gain

-chipped in $500 of his own money when his trust account was short on the day of closing rather than delay and imperil a deal

-negotiated folks out of dozens of tough corners

Steve Sheppard center with his two SKS partners flanking him

Here’s a case study, in his own words:

This case study involves Mr and Mrs Peterson [names changed to
maintain confidentiality].

Mr and Mrs Peterson owned a large parcel of land on the outskirts of
Ottawa. Mr
Peterson had run into significant health issues and family members were unable
to maintain the property. Working with Dr Firestone, a real estate broker, and
a variety of other consultants and professionals (planner and surveyor), we
were able to obtain a severance of the rural property of the vacant land
adjacent to the home property.  This
allowed Mrs Peterson an opportunity to move closer to the city and Mr Peterson
to be admitted to a retirement residence in the city where he was able to
obtain proper medical care.  

The city of Ottawa
and other stakeholders put up numerous roadblocks with respect to the
severance. However, our team persevered and we were able to ultimately obtain
consent to sever and sell the land holdings. This was a rewarding file for me
as it was very personal and allowed me to use my legal knowledge to obtain an
important result for the family. We had numerous meetings with the client at
their home and as a team we were able to guide them through the process to
achieve the result that they ultimately wanted and needed.

At the end of the day, the severance increased the value of the land
holdings from $1m to $1.4m, which was a terrific result for our clients.  The cost of the severance related work was
just a fraction of the increase in value.

These additional funds are used by the family for ongoing care for
Mr Peterson, and as a result of the transactions, the family will have
financial comfort going forward.  

Myself and the other professionals continue to advise the Petersons
on various matters.  Through our
collective efforts, we were also able to prevent certain unscrupulous people
from duping Mr Peterson out of his hard earned savings.  

I handle a lot of corporate and commercial files in my practice,
however I do maintain a significant caseload for personal clients both real
estate and otherwise. These matters are the ones that are often the most
rewarding and allow me to see the direct benefits for clients.  It is very rewarding to look into someone’s
eyes and know that you helped them achieve results that mean so much to them.

Steven
Sheppard

SKS
Law LLP/SRL

Steven.sheppard@skslaw.ca

July 20, 2016