Commercial Real Estate Legal Updates

“2024 Legislative Changes Affecting California Commercial Real Property” Williams & Associates Tenth Annual Newsletter, March 2024

“Part II: 2023 Legislative Changes Affecting California Commercial Real Property,” Williams & Associates Ninth Annual Newsletter, December 2023

2023 Legislative Changes Affecting California Commercial Real Property,” Williams & Associates Ninth Annual Newsletter, March 2023

2022 Legislative Changes Affecting California Commercial Real Property,” Williams & Associates Eighth Annual Newsletter, March 2022

2021 Legislative Changes Affecting California Commercial Real Property,” Williams & Associates Seventh Annual Newsletter, March 2021

2020 Legislative Changes Affecting California Commercial Real Property,” Attorney at Law Magazine (Los Angeles Edition) (Volume 6, No. 1, 2020)

2019 California Laws Affecting Commercial Real Property,” Attorney at Law Magazine (Los Angeles Edition) (Vol. 5, No. 2, 2019)

“2018 California Laws Affecting Commercial Real Property,” Attorney At Law Magazine (Los Angeles Edition) (Vol. 4, No. 1, 2018)

“2017 California Laws Affecting California Commercial Real Property,” Attorney At Law Magazine (Los Angeles Edition) (Vol. 3, No. 2, 2017)

“2016 California Laws Affecting Commercial Real Property,” Attorney At Law Magazine (Los Angeles Edition) (Vol. 2, No. 2, 2016)

“Legislative Developments Affecting Commercial Real Property in 2015,” Attorney At Law Magazine (Los Angeles Edition) (Premiere 2015)

Publications / Course Materials

 Commercial Real Estate Leasing

Commercial Real Estate Purchase and Sale Transactions

  • Panel Outline, Panelist and Moderator, “Commercial Real Estate Transactions: A Primer for Practitioners on Documentation, Diligence and Closing,” National Bar Association 2015 Annual Convention, July, 2015

Commercial Real Estate Financing Transactions

  • Sales of Real Property and Other Transfers Outside of Ordinary Course of Business under the Uniform Commercial Real Estate Receivership Act,” (co-authored with Professor R. Wilson Freyermuth, University of Missouri School of Law), ACREL News and Notes, November, 2020

  • Panel Outline, “Loan Defaults and Two Not So Tough Acts to Follow,” American College of Mortgage Attorneys, 2020 Annual Meeting, September 11, 2020 (co-authored with co-panelists Ed Foster and Hilary Gevondyan)

  • Priority Of Liens On California Real Property, Part 2: Subordination Agreements,” Points of Interest Magazine (California Mortgage Association, Spring, 2019)

  • Priority Of Liens On California Real Property, Part 1: General Rules of Priority, Deeds of Trust,” Points of Interest Magazine (California Mortgage Association, Fall,2018)

  • “Will the Banks Be Back Big? Recent Federal Law Limits High Volatility Commercial Real Estate Regulations.” Points of Interest Magazine (California Mortgage Association, Summer, 2018)

  • Regulation of High Volatility Commercial Real Estate Loans,” Commercial Insight Newsletter (First American Title Insurance Company, Fall 2016)

  • Mechanics Liens, Landlords and Leases,” Attorney At Law Magazine (Los Angeles Edition) (Vol. 2, No. 1, 2016)

  • Lenders’ Rights in Real Estate Leases and Rents,” Attorney At Law Magazine (Los Angeles Edition) (Vol. 1, No. 3, 2015)

  • Panelist and Co-Moderator, “The Public And The Crowd: Financing Transactions With Capital From Multiple Sources,” American College Of Mortgage Attorneys 2015 Annual Meeting, October, 2015

  • Using the HUD108 Loan Guarantee Program for Economic Development,” California Economic Development Journal 5 (Volume I, Issue 1, Summer 2014)

  • “Beyond the Bank: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Section 108 Loan Guarantee Program,” 34th Annual Training Conference of the California Association for Local Economic Development, April, 2014

  • Moderator and Panelist, “Financing Your Public-Private Deal – 2013 and Beyond,” Real Estate Finance Subsection, Real Property Section, Los Angeles County Bar Association, May 2013

  • “Procedural Aspects of Receiverships,” California Receivers Forum Loyola IV Symposium, January, 2011

  • “Commercial Real Property Receiverships,” California Receivers Forum, Los Angeles- Orange County Chapter, June, 2010

  • “Loan Remedies and Restructuring” – panel in series entitled “Navigating and Sometimes Unwinding Real Estate Transactions In Challenging Economic Times” presented jointly by the Real Property Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association and the American Bar Association Section of Real Property, Trust and Estate Law, November, 2009

  • City of Los Angeles Industrial Development Authority, “Rights And Remedies In The Defaulted Bond Transaction From The Borrower’s Perspective (Emphasizing Right Under Letters Of Credit And Under Guarantys),” September 10, 2009

  • Los Angeles County Bar Association Real Property Section, Finance Subsection, “Fundamentals of Drafting and Negotiating Commercial Real Estate Loan Documentation,” June, 2008

  • Practicing Law Institute, “Commercial Real Estate Financing 2008: What Borrowers and Lenders Need to Know Now,” San Francisco and New York, February, 2008

  • Practicing Law Institute, “Commercial Real Estate Financing 2007: What Borrowers and Lenders Need to Know Now,” January, 2007

  • American College of Mortgage Attorneys Annual Meeting, “Legislative Potpourri,” October, 2006

  • American College of Mortgage Attorneys Annual Meeting, “Legislative Potpourri,” October, 2005

  • Joint Fall CLE Meeting of ABA Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section and Tax Law Section “Current Developments In Assignment of Rents and Other Issues of Interest Only To Those Who Value Money,” September, 2005

  • Reader Alert: “Uniform Assignment of Rents Act,” The Abstract (American College of Mortgage Attorneys), April 2005

  • Los Angeles County Bar Association Real Property Section, Real Estate Finance Subsection – “The Issuance of UCC Opinions In Connection with the Origination of Loans Secured Primarily By Real Estate”, May, 2004

  • State Bar of California Real Property Section Retreat, “Loan Workouts,” April, 2002

  • Crosby, Heafey, Roach & May, in-house MCLE Presentation, “Fundamentals of Real Estate Finance,” November, 2001

  • Assignments of Rents-The Next Generation,” 15 Real Property Journal 27 (Winter, 1997)

  • Mixed Collateral Foreclosures-New Turns on a Twisted Path,” 1996 Real Property Law Reporter 113 (California Continuing Education of the Bar, 1996)

General

  • Panel Moderator, “Federal Tax Incentives for Development,” USC Gould School of Law Institute/Los Angeles County Bar Association 2007

  • Benjamin S. Crocker Symposium on Real Estate Law & Business, April 19, 2007

  • Urban Land Institute, Urban Marketplace, “Development of an Office Building Under $10,000,000 Under the HUD 108 Loan Program,” March, 2003

  • Commercial Real Estate Women (Orange County Chapter), “Pension Fund Involvement in Real Estate,” September, 2001

  • Presentation to in-house attorneys at California Federal Bank, “Revised Article 9 for Real Estate and Personal Property Lenders,” May, 2001

Legislation

(legislation in which Norma Williams was a lead author or key participant)

  • California Statutes of 1989, Chapter 698 (legislation abrogating rule of Taylor v. Bouissiere, 195 Cal. App. 3d 1197 (1987) re leasehold financing), amending 15 sections of the California Civil Code and Code of Civil Procedure

  • Chair of Secured Transactions Law Reform Committee of State Bar Real Property Law Section and thereby lead author for California Statutes of 1996, Chapter 49 containing comprehensive revision of California law on assignment of rents, enacted as Civil Code Section 2938, effective January 1, 1997

  • Observer, Assignment of Rents Drafting Committee, National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (2003-Present) - Observer to Drafting Committee that has drafted a national uniform law on assignment of rents modeled on the California statute described above. Enacted in Nevada (2007); Utah (2008), New Mexico (2011), Texas (2011), North Dakota (2013); pending in Massachusetts, 2016