I am no arbiter of civility, but some of my friends have suggested that I use this “curmudgeon conveyancer” column for something other than whining and complaining. I’m good at whining and complaining, but perhaps I can use the column to share some constructive criticism aimed at improving civility among the members of the bar. Real estate lawyers are known for their civility, but there is always room for improvement. So, send me your suggestions and I will try to incorporate them in a future column. Meanwhile, here are some ideas some of my friends have suggested:
 

1.      Bill Gates went to a lot of trouble to monopolize the market place with Microsoft Word® software. We all use it and it contains the handy “track changes” feature that automatically redlines changes in a document, and produces a different color when another author makes further revisions. Then why, my friends ask me, do some lawyers respond to a redline of a contract with a fax transmission of a copy of the document with handwritten cross-outs and scribbled notes in the margin? I haven’t a clue, unless the lawyer is too old to understand how to use Word® software, then all is forgiven. Worse than the fax transmission, is the e-mail response with detailed descriptions of changes the party would like to the document (for example: “Addendum A, page 2, line 16, delete the word ‘after’ and replace with the words ‘on or before’.) Heavens to Murgatroyd! Think how much easier it would have been just to take the redline document, make the change and send back the document, and the change would appear in purple!!!
 
2.      Speaking of e-mails, we all know of the surveys that have concluded that clients are frequently frustrated by their attorneys who do not return phone calls. We know that sometimes an immediate response is not warranted or possible. However, if an attorney has been sending and receiving e-mails during the course of contract negotiation with another attorney, my friends tell me that it is inappropriate not to respond for days to questions raised in the e-mail, even if the response is “I am the busiest attorney of the Great Recession and I cannot read the change you made to P&S until next Thursday”.
 
3.      Another friend suggested that we stop citing cases in support of a position that are not on point, or in the ballpark. It now takes five minutes to pull up the case cited, read it and determine that opposing counsel is grasping for straws. Sure there are analogous situations to point out and arguments to make, but some of the case citations I have seen are other-worldly.
 
4.      And, not that I am complaining, but some of my friends have suggested that I point out the practice of sending seller’s counsel the cover sheets of a residential title abstract that borrower’s counsel has received from the title examiner and asking seller’s counsel to address each of the items listed. What can I say about a 1934 easement to New England Telephone and Telegraph? What can I say about a 1925 right of way that hasn’t already been said? And, yes, the Planning Board issued a Certificate of Approval of a Definitive Plan; what do you propose I say or do about that?