I was born and grew up in Iowa, where my family was and is engaged in operating a nearly 90 year old small business. My wife, Mary, and I graduated from Central College in Pella, Iowa, and came to Iowa City for law school in the summer of 1972. Except for my one year in Des Moines where I served as law clerk to Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice C. Edwin Moore, we have lived in Iowa City since that time. As a member and elder at Saint Andrew Presbyterian Church, I have been involved with church activities at the local, regional and national levels. Over the past 35 years I have served on several non-profit boards, most recently as President of the Johnson County Historical Society. In the first year that the Iowa Supreme Court allowed listing of practice area concentration, I narrowed the scope of my law practice so that I could focus on the kinds of legal issues that most families encounter during their lives.
The areas of practice I have developed include, but are not limited to: 1) buying or selling real estate; 2) preparation of wills, trusts and other estate planning documents; 3) starting, purchasing or selling a small business; 4) providing assistance with eldercare for an aging parent; 5) providing planning documents for a disabled child; 6) assisting with Medicaid planning; 7) dealing with rental issues either as a landlord or tenant; 8) providing tax advice and preparation of income tax returns; and 9) dealing with the probate process after the death of a parent, spouse or loved one.
In addition to the services primarily for families, I provide 35 years of experience in providing a full range of business and real estate services such as review and preparation of employment agreements, commercial leasing, subdivision and condominium development, reviewing and preparing buy/sell agreements, and most other business or real estate services provided by transactional attorneys. I am one of only four attorneys located in Johnson County to meet all five of the Iowa Title Guarantee standards of excellence requirements.
By concentrating my practice in these areas, I have been able to provide my clients with a primary care attorney in much the same way that a family practice or internal medicine physician serves as a gatekeeper to always be the first person to call when a legal issue arises. By making arrangements with other attorneys I know and trust to handle matters outside my area of concentration, I can provide full service, while maintaining proficiency in my chosen areas of practice.
Associations & memberships
Johnson County Bar Association (Member, Title Standards Committee, 1999-Present; President, 2009)
Iowa State Bar Association (Member: ISBA December Tax School Committee, 1996- 1999, 2010 - present, Chairman 2011-2012)
Spring Tax Institute Committee, 1999 - 2010; (Chairman, 2000-2001, 2003-2004, 2009-2010)
American Bar Association (Member, Sections on: Corporation, Banking and Business Law; Economics of Law Practice; Real Estate; Estate Planning; Real Property; Probate, Trust Law and Taxation)
Biographical details Phi Alpha Delta. Law Clerk to Chief Justice Moore, Iowa Supreme Court, 1975 - 1976. Member, 1977 - 1984, and Chairman, 1978 - 1984, Johnson County Board of Social Welfare. Member, Board of Temporary Bar Examiners, 1985 to Present, Johnson County Historical Society, member and President.
