Condo Media - May 2010 - 51

cise their right to foreclose on delinquent owners, but the lenders holding the mortgage on their units would “swoop in” and collect on their first lien, leaving associations unable to collect anything, and out-of-pocket for the thousands of dollars they had spent on the foreclosure action. The issue was complicated, condominiums were an unfamiliar concept at the time, and the education process was slow, Marcus says. “We literally went door-to-door at the State House,” explaining the problem to lawmakers and picking up crucial support along the way from other affected interest groups. Tenant organizations were key, he says, because they were able to describe the impact on renters in investor-owned condominiums, when associations were unable to collect the fees required to maintain essential services in the community. “That turned out to be a compelling story,” Marcus says, and when a local television news station picked it up, “the Super Lien proposal gathered support on its own.” “It was nothing magical we did,” Marcus insists. “It was a story people could understand. It was also clear that we weren’t out to attack the lenders, the Realtors (or others opposing the Super Lien.) We were just trying to make sure condominiums could survive.”

environmental protection standpoint, Marcus says, the regulations issued by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) “made no sense.” When the state DEP refused to budge, “we said the heck with them and went to the governor and the legislature instead,” ultimately achieving through legislation the solution they were unable to win through negotiation with the DEP, and saving community associ-

Amicus Curiae Team, the CAI Law Seminar and CAI-NE’s Attorneys Committee. Through those activities and others, “he has been instrumental in many of [CAI’s] successes and a consummate advocate for community associations,” Chiarelli noted in presenting the Hall of Fame Award. Marcus’ resume suggests that condominium law was a perfect fit for him, and vice versa. But when he graduated

“If you are confronting something quirky, Stephen [Marcus] is the one you want to call, not just because of his knowledge of industry issues but also because of his willingness to share what he knows.”
—Bob McBride
ations in the state the estimated $50 million it would have cost them to comply with the DEP rules. At the national level, Marcus worked with CAI to win changes in the federal bankruptcy reform law, clarifying the right of associations to collect postpetition fees from debtors who retained ownership of their units after filing for bankruptcy protection. He also helped CAI tackle the Telecommunications Act, which gave condominium owners sweeping rights to install satellite dishes in their communities. “We couldn’t undo the law,” Marcus says, “so we concentrated on explaining the unique features of condominiums and the reasonable boundaries that should apply [to the placement of satellite dishes]. The regulators weren’t on our side,” he says. “But they listened to a fair amount of what we had to say, and they agreed to some changes that made the law at least more palatable to community associations.” Marcus’ involvement in the condominium industry extends well beyond these high-profile issues. A past president of CAI-NE, he also served as volunteer executive director of the chapter in its early days. He has chaired and served on a host of local and national committees, including the National from Colby College with a government major, Marcus says, he didn’t have a legal career in mind. In fact, he admits, he didn’t have any particular career in mind. When his father said he would pay for law school if Stephen wanted to go, he didn’t exactly jump at the offer. It was the summer after his graduation. He was working as a waiter at a South Shore restaurant, earning what seemed to him to be good money in tips, and, he says, “I was sort of happy with that.”

Lessons Learned and Applied
Marcus says he learned a lot from his initial experience with legislative advocacy, including the importance of forging coalitions with like-minded interest groups, and the value of “listening to others, so you can come up with solutions that make sense.” He has applied those early lessons successfully to a variety of industry issues. At the state level, he managed to reverse environmental regulations that would have required community associations with septic systems exceeding a specified usage cap to build their own waste water treatment plants — a requirement that did not apply to detached, single-family homes. From an

Discovering Law and Condominiums
He enrolled in law school anyway, although, he says, “I’m not sure why. Even while I was in law school, I wasn’t sure I wanted to be an attorney.” While in law school, Marcus and a friend worked part-time for a condominium management company, which they continued to do after graduating. “We were pathetic as managers,” he recalls. As an indication of how little they knew about the business, Marcus says, after passing the bar exam, he and his friend “threw in legal services for no charge, as part of our management fee” clearly, a good deal for association clients, if not a particularly viable longterm business model for managers.

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