Hawaii Condo Law

As many of you know from our postcards and emails, Ekimoto & Morris moved this weekend to:

American Savings Bank Tower
1001 Bishop Street, Suite 780
Honolulu, Hawaii 96813-3410

Our phone numbers, fax numbers and email addresses remain the same. While we only moved about one block, it took a lot of time and effort. My wife said that there’s a reason that people stay in their offices for at least 10 years — it takes that long for us to forget how much work it is! Even with freight elevators breaking down and construction of our new offices not fully completed on move day, we were able to get some work done today. We appreciate your understanding if you were not able to reach us on Friday during the move.

As you may have notice, the last update on legislation was a week ago. Unfortunately, the move meant that I did not get a chance to update you on legislation affecting community associations. That should get back on schedule shortly.

In conjunction with our move, we also adopted a new logo for the firm. We hope you like it.

Today marks the first anniversary of our law firm, Ekimoto & Morris, LLLC. When I first created the Hawaii Condo Law Blog in l.c. 2005, I wanted to provide useful information for those involved with Hawaii community associations and limit the amount of purely promotional posts to the blog. However, John and I could not let today go by without thanking our clients, family, friends and co-workers for making our first year a success. We know that we could not have done it without all of them. Mahalo!

The College of Community Association Lawyers is a group of attorneys that practice community association law. Members have distinguished themselves through contributions to the evolution or practice of community association law. Admission requirements includes: (1) a minimum of 10 years of practice in community association law; (2) substantial writing in the area of community association law; (3) significant teaching on community association law; and (4) community service or legislative activity. The College plans and presents what many consider the best educational program on community associations. Hundreds of attorneys, managers and others attend the CAI Law Seminar each year.

I’ve written this article for two reasons. First, I want to encourage any attorneys that meet the requirements of the College to apply for membership. Second, I want you to know that I’ll be in Washington, DC from April 8 to 12, 2005 to attend strategic planning for the Board of Governors of the College of Community Association Lawyers. While I will continue to post updates while I’m away from the office, there may be some delays particularly while I’m traveling.

A PCAM is a manager that has earned the highest designation available to a community association manager, the Professional Community Association Manager® designation. Managers that earn the PCAM® designation have, among other things, taken and passed six 200 level courses on Facilities Management, Association Communication, Community Leadership, Community Governance, Risk Management, and Financial Management. After passing the courses, the manager must successfully complete the Case Study, which includes a substantial paper on community association management.

The courses are taught by the National Faculty for the Community Associations Institute. I’m fortunate to be one of CAI’s National Faculty, teaching the course on Community Governance two or three times a year. While this means that I must occasionally travel to the mainland to teach courses (in addition to classes in Hawaii), it is fun teaching and learning from the managers taking the course.