Prestigious group welcomes Northern Virginia attorney as leader and 11 inductees from across the country.
Brendan Bunn, an attorney and shareholder of Chadwick, Washington, Moriarty, Elmore & Bunn in Fairfax, Va., has been elected 2024 president of Community Associations Institute's prestigious College of Community Association Lawyers (CCAL). Bunn's one-year term will begin on Jan. 1. He has been a member of the CCAL board since 2020.
Bunn has been practicing community association law since 1993. He counsels the firm's clients on the broad range of community association law issues and is an experienced litigator. His recent projects include pursuing condominium developer warranty claims and assisting clients in amending their governing documents. Bunn has additional experience in cooperative-to-condominium conversions.
“It's a privilege to lead such a prestigious group of practitioners from around the country. The one common quality you see about CCAL fellows is dedication both to education and to advancing the practice of community association law," says Bunn. “Yes, we help our clients on a daily basis, but there are also special moments when we advocate for the entire industry on bigger issues, like state and federal legislation or landmark court cases. CCAL fellows produce impressive results on a regular basis, and the Board of Governors looks forward to building on that tradition in the coming year."
Daniel Miske of Husch Blackwell in Milwaukee will serve as CCAL's 2024 president-elect. His one-year term as president will begin on Jan. 1, 2025.
Miske helps boards of directors and managers of condominium associations, homeowners associations, cooperatives, and timeshares with the many issues they face—from document amendments, collections, and contracts to rules and governance. His interest in condominium law stems from being a condominium association owner and president. Because he has served on various boards as treasurer and president, he relates well to clients and can identify with the complexities of legal challenges that communities confront. His vast experience allows him to present options and see issues that others would likely miss, in part because of his service on the CAI Wisconsin Chapter Legislative Action Committee, which reviews current laws and comments on any proposed amendments.
Scott Weiss, of counsel at Ortale Kelley in Nashville, was elected to the CCAL board, and Amy Tinetti, a principal and shareholder at Hughes Gill Cochrane Tinetti in Walnut Creek, Calif., was re-elected.
The 2024 CCAL board also includes Immediate Past President David Graf of MoellerGraf in Englewood, Colo., Augustus H. Shaw, founding partner of Shaw & Lines in Phoenix, and Elina Gilbert, shareholder at Altitude Law in Denver.
Established in 1993 by the CAI Board of Trustees, CCAL provides a forum for experienced legal professionals working in the community association field to exchange information. Its goals include promoting high standards of professional and ethical responsibility, improving and advancing community association law and practice, and facilitating the development of educational materials and programming pertaining to legal issues.
CCAL fellows are lawyers who have demonstrated skill, experience, and high standards of professional and ethical conduct and are dedicated to excellence in the specialized practice of community association law. They are involved in state and federal legislative activities and prepare amicus curiae (friend-of-the-court) briefs on critical judicial cases that affect common interest communities.
CCAL provides advanced professional educational programs to its fellows and identifies and contributes to the solution of community association legal challenges. It is a collegial forum for the exchange and development of ideas by some of the most knowledgeable attorneys in community association law.
CCAL consists of 170 attorneys, including 11 new members to be inducted during CAI's 2024 Community Association Law Seminar, Feb. 14–17, in Las Vegas. The new inductees are:
- Leah Burton with Steptoe & Johnson in Plano, Texas
- M. Katherine Bushey with Kaman & Cusimano in Columbus, Ohio
- G. Lanier Coulter, Jr., with Coulter & Sierra in Norcross, Ga.
- Bruce Easmunt with Chadwick, Washington, Moriarty, Elmore & Bunn in Fairfax, Va.
- Alexis Firehawk with Carpenter Hazlewood Delgado and Bolen in Tempe, Ariz.
- Chad M. Gallacher with Maxwell & Morgan in Mesa, Ariz.
- Cheri A. Hauer with Leach Kern Gruchow Anderson Song in Las Vegas
- Phaedra Howard with Hellmuth & Johnson in Edina, Minn.
- Mark Sahl with Carpenter, Hazlewood, Delgado & Bolen in Tempe, Ariz.
- Harmony Taylor with Law Firm Carolinas in Charlotte, N.C.
- Jerry Wright with Chadwick, Washington, Moriarty, Elmore & Bunn in Glen Allen, Va.