Real Estate Law Day 2014 - Vermont Bar Association

Vermont Bar Association and
Vermont Association of Realtors®
Seminar Materials
Real Estate Law Day 2014
November 14, 2014
Capitol Plaza, Montpelier
Faculty:
John Hamrick
Harland Miller, III, Esq.
William B. Schwartz, Esq.
John Hamrick provides Exchange consulting and support for Edmund & Wheeler, Inc. John
has 25 years of business development experience, coupled with 12 years experience in the real
estate (residential and commercial) and business brokerage industries. John is a licensed New
Hampshire real estate professional and coordinates real estate and alternative exchange
activities. He is also an approved Section 1031 trainer with the New Hampshire, Vermont &
Maine Real Estate Commissions. John lives in Littleton, NH with his best friend Mary. John &
Mary enjoy the arts and extensive travel and exploration around New England and the world!
Harland L. Miller, III, graduated from Hampden-Sydney College in Hampden-Sydney, Virginia
in 1978 and received his law degree from The University of Richmond’s T. C. Williams School of
Law in 1983. He practiced law in Bellows Falls, Vermont with the law firm of Kissell &
Massucco from 1983 through 1990. In 1991, Mr. Miller became Vermont State Counsel for First
American Title Insurance Company, where he handled all underwriting of residential and
commercial real estate transactions and managed all title insurance claims for the company in
the State of Vermont. In 1999 he was also made Vermont State Manager for First American
and continued as Vermont State Counsel until 2001. Mr. Miller joined the firm of Little, Cicchetti
& Conard, P.C. in October 2001, where his law practice concentrated on commercial real estate
transactions. He rejoined First American Title Insurance Company in January of 2003 and
currently holds the positions of Vice-President, Vermont State Counsel. Harland Miller has
lectured extensively on real estate issues, taught seminars and has testified before the Vermont
Legislature on numerous occasions. He is also a former Chair of the Windham Regional
Planning Commission. Mr. Miller is a member and co-chair of the Vermont Bar Association’s
Real Property Section, Chair of Hearing Panel #7 for the Professional Responsibility Board and
currently serves as Chair of the Vermont Title Standards Committee. Governor Douglas
appointed him to the Marketability of Title Commission and the State of Vermont Municipal Land
Records Commission where he served as Secretary. In 2011, he served as Chair of the
Vermont Senate’s Post-Irene Task Force Real Property Law Sub-Committee. He also was
elected Treasurer of the Chittenden County Bar Association. Mr. Miller previously served on the
Board of the Vermont Mortgage Bankers Association. He was a member of the American Land
Title Association serving on the International Development Committee. As a Board Member of
the Vermont Karelia Rule of Law Project, Inc., he has participated in numerous legal seminars
on Russian Land Reform and privatization in Karelia, Russia. In 2008 he was awarded a
Fulbright Scholarship and taught “Real Property Law In Emerging Economies” at the Law
Faculty at the University of Maribor, Slovenia, and in 2010 he received a Follow-on Fulbright
Award to return to University of Maribor and lecture on “The Sub-Prime Mortgage Crisis.”
William B. Schwartz, Esq. is the sole Attorney, Advocate, and Counselor At Law at Schwartz
Law Offices, PC in Winhall, Vermont (chief chef and bottle washer, too). His practice
concentrates in Real Estate and Land Use Development as well as all other aspects of Real
Property Law and he has re-expanded back to a General Practice (excluding Family & Criminal
Law) as his clients’ needs for services have increased.
He is currently admitted to the New York State Bar, the Vermont Bar, the Southern, Eastern,
and Northern Districts of New York and the District of Vermont.
While an undergraduate, he was employed by the law firm of Ball & Alpert in Syracuse, NY,
while in Law School at Benjamin N. Cardozo in NYC, he was employed by a Mineola Law Firm
– Costigan, Hyman, Hyman, & Martone, specializing in Tax Certiorari and then with the “Big
Eight” accounting firm of Coopers & Lybrand in NYC (n/k/a/ PriceWaterhouseCoopers),
specializing in State and Local Taxation.
Upon graduation he continued with Coopers until moving to Vermont in 1986 to start and raise a
family (he is married and has two daughters) and to hang his hat and shingle in Winhall where
he has had a practice for the past 27 years (someday he hopes to get it right; until then,
practice, practice, practice…).
In his community, Bill has served n the Town of Winhall Volunteer Fire Department, as
President, Treasurer and Trustee of Israel Congregation of Manchester, as Board Member and
as Treasurer of the Londonderry Area Chamber of Commerce, as a member of the Manchester
Area Chamber of Commerce, on the Town of Winhall Planning Commission, as Member,
Sergeant at Arms, President-Elect and twice President of Rotary International – Wantastiquet
Club, as a Stratton Arts Festival Board Member, on the Ad Hoc Committee Town of Winhall
School Board (which closed our public school and created the first independent hybrid
elementary school in Vermont), and then he served the new school as a Board member of the
Mountain School At WInhall.
He is currently Co-Chair of the VBA Property Law Section and Vice Chair of the Winhall
Selectboard, where he has served the Town of Winhall from 2008 to the present.