Legal Question in Real Estate Law in North Carolina
real estate contract for apartment building
Can a california attorney work on a contract for a NC LLC. Two of the partners of llc reside in CA and contact address for llc is in California.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: real estate contract for apartment building
I would refrain from expressing an opinion on whether this is LEGAL because its legality would have to be decided based upon NC law, and I'm a California lawyer. However, I can certainly express an opinion as to whether it is SMART. If the contract in question is the operating agreement for the LLC, or anything that would be construed under NC law if a dispute went to court, you need to have an NC lawyer do the bulk of the drafting. There's no reason why CA lawyers then couldn't make minor contributions to it, and act as liaison between their clients and the NC attorney doing the drafting.
A look at any model CA LLC operating agreement will show loads of references to CA statutes. I would not want an NC lawyer drafting one, and vice-versa I think basic documents for a NC LLC must be done at least in large part (and finished) by a home-state (NC) lawyer.
So, if by "work on" you mean "collaborate" or "make minor contributions," I'd say yes; but the main effort should be by someone who is trained and licensed to apply the law of the LLC's state.