Brokers, 

I'm talking about naming names on purchase and sale contracts. The standard forms give you room to identify the deal participants – buyer and seller, natch. Yourselves. The lender. The homeowners' association. And yes, us lawyers too.

Adding the lawyers' name lets us allget acquainted and start coordinating in our efforts to close the contract swiftly.

But what do you do when you don’t know which lawyer your client retains? Do you ask before preparing (or accepting) the offer? Do you leave those lines blank? Or, do you drop "your guy's" information in, hoping/expecting that the client and attorney will (eventually) agree to work together? And if you do, does the lawyer know that his or her name has been associated to the transaction?

The latter happens. We are frequently hired to represent parties that either did not "go with the broker's lawyer" or who hire us directly and see other lawyers named. We occasionally learn of instances where we were named but not hired.

Here's a snafu I've been watching unfold over the last several weeks: I turned a matter down but was listed in the contract. They buyer and I both let all the stakeholders know. Still, the inspector sent his report to me. I still receive weekly updates from the lender. The title company asked what fee I want collected at closing. A preliminary settlement statement. A couple, actually. Of course I delete them, first asking to be removed. Sigh.

Earlier this week, I recieved a message from an attorney announcing to all deal participants that he was taking over on a deal that I had no record of at all – I was discharged from an engagement I never took on!

Listing the right (or wrong) real estate attorney is a much bigger deal than you might think.

Everyone who receives a copy of the contract will associate that attorney to the transaction. Time sensitive communications may be directed to strangers. Attorney review and inspection demands sent to the wrong parties may be defective. Deadlines can be missed. Termination notices ineffective. That lawyer named on the contract possibly exposed to professional liability claims even if never hired.

That "wrong" lawyer may receive confidential/personal correspondences that they should not otherwise be privy to.

A confused consumer may think that I am your lawyer and not his. (Particularly if he has not even spoken with me to that point.)

On those rare occasion, we prefer to send non-engagement letters. We want to confirm this to everyone as soon as possible. For their sakes and ours. In fact, I recieved one of those from another lawyer yesterday. But we can only do so if you let us know.

Brokers – of course you want your team to work on the deal and to be clear on this point, we want to work with you and with your clients. We want you to list our firm as their attorneys.

But your clients may not always hire "your guy." Do your guy a favor – let them know so that they can do the same.