Introduction

• Author: Gregory M Stein - Michael D Goodwin - Morton P Fisher Jr
• Pages: 3-8

3

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

§ 1.01 Bridging the Gap between Law School

and Real Estate Practice

You have filled out your employment forms and your W-4 and

received a quick tour of the office. You know where the copier, the

coffee machine, and the restrooms are. The office manager has just

introduced you to your assistant and walked you into your nearly

empty office. You log onto your computer, and the first e-mail you

notice is from the assigning partner in your department: “Draft

the representations and warranties for the attached purchase and

sale agreement. I need to send the agreement to opposing counsel

tomorrow evening.”

After four years of college, three years of law school, eight weeks

of the bar review course, two or three days of the bar exam, and tens

of thousands of dollars of debt, you feel like you have learned some-

thing about the law. But your heart is thumping a bit too heavily,

and your hands have just gone cold. You have no idea what rep-

resentations and warranties are, and you need to find out quickly.

Your first impulse is to write back, “Don’t ask me. Ask a lawyer.”

Who put you in this situation? Is it the fault of your law school?

Perhaps it is, but law schools are not well structured for providing

this kind of experience, and even if they were, that is not their pri-

mary function. Law school survey classes are large, and your real

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