About

My Education and Background.  My legal practice spans over 40 years.  I spent the last 25 years as a partner in one of the largest firms in the country.  During approximately 15 of those years, I co-chaired the firm-wide Real Estate Litigation Practice Group and was chair of the Real Estate Practice Group for the Portland office. Now, after practicing law in a large firm for a quarter centurry, I opened my solo real estate practice with offices in Portland and Bend, Oregon. I graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Oregon, and went on to graduate from the University’s School of Law.  My practice is concentrated almost exclusively in all areas of real estate, from litigation to transactional matters.  My Teaching.   I've taught Real Estate Licensing Law and Real Estate Practices for several years at Portland Community College and other private licensing schools.  I also served as an adjunct professor in Business Law at Portland State University.  My Publications.  I've authored and co-authored several real estate chapters in the Oregon State Bar’s Continuing Education Publications (“CLE”), as well as chapters for several private continuing education real estate publishers.  Most recently, in 2009 I spoke at three presentations for the Oregon State Bar’s Real Estate and Land Use Section on distressed sales, and have written extensively on the subject for the State Bar.  I also addressed the issue before the Bar’s Professional Liability Fund, touching on pitfalls in representing clients in distressed seller transactions. My Real Estate Industry Representation.  I am intimately involved in Oregon real estate, having served nearly 20 years as legal counsel for the Portland Metropolitan Association of Realtors® (“PMAR”) and one of its predecessor organizations, the Washington County Association of Realtors®.  I have  continuously served on PMAR’s Risk Management Committee since its inception and have spoken frequently on current and critical issues facing the industry. Together with PMAR, I assist in reviewing its legislative initiatives in an effort to advance or improve upon real estate legislation affecting the brokerage industry. My Forms Drafting.  In addition, I has served as legal counsel for Oregon Real Estate Forms, LLC (“OREF”), the statewide Realtor® forms provider since its inception nearly 10 years ago.  I also sit on OREF’s Forms Committee and am responsible for the review and final drafting of all real estate forms used by Realtors® throughout Oregon. My Manufactured Housing Industry Representation.  In addition, as an important corollary to my real estate practice, I represent the Manufactured Housing Communities of Oregon (“MHCO”), the statewide industry association for manufactured housing parks.  Over the past 25 years I've participated in authoring legislation for landlords and owners of manufactured housing parks, and on behalf of MHCO been responsible for the drafting all of the landlord forms used throughout the State.  Consequently, I have been called upon to testify before the Oregon legislature on manufactured housing issues, representing and advising owners and managers on risk management issues and the Oregon Landlord Tenant law. My Litigatiton & Transactional Experience.  I have litigated real estate cases my entire career.  I've tried,  arbitrated and mediated almost every type of real estate dispute that can occur, ranging from adverse possession, to foreclosure, trespass, rescission, commission claims, and virtually every other type of conflict arising in the real estate community.  Similarly, on the transactional side, I've drafted hundreds of real estate transactional documents, both for individual clients and industry clients.   As a result, I'm a frequent resource to other attorneys statewide regarding the purpose, intent, and effect of many forms provisions, indirectly improving how real estate transactions are now handled in Oregon.  Many of the provisions that I've inserted into the standard real estate forms have be emulated in other standard forms by lawyers in Oregon and California. In short, if it deals with real estate, be it commercial residential, transactional or dispute resolution, I've probably done it. My Public Speaking.  I am a frequent guest speaker at many professional organizations including the Portland Metropolitan Association of Realtors®, the PMAR Million Dollar Club, the PMAR Women’s Council of Realtors®, PMAR’s Million Dollar Club, the Central Oregon Association of Realtors®, the Yamhill County Association of Realtors®, the Eugene Association of Realtors® and the Douglas County Association of Realtors®.  I've made presentations to the Oregon Real Estate Agency addressing recent Realtor® forms changes.  I am also a frequent speaker for many of the local title insurance companies and real estate brokerages in Portland, Bend, and elsewhere, addressing risk management and other topics of current interest.  For nearly 20 years I have authored monthly or bi-monthly real estate articles that are widely read throughout the industry and used as instructional material for company training.  On average, I speak to Realtor® groups 30 to 40 times a year, reaching thousands of industry members.  My Reputational Expertise.  I have been widely quoted in many local Orergon newspapers, including the Portland Business Journal and the Oregonian.  I've served as an expert witness on standards of care, as well as other real estate issues in court and arbitrations.  (See link at: http://pipl.com/directory/name/Querin/Phil) From 2007 through 2017 I have been honored to be nominated by my peers as a real estate  “SuperLawyer”.

Practices Areas

Real Estate

Language

English

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