Business

As of December 19, 2022, I will have been a member of the Massachusetts Bar for fifty years, and a practicing attorney all those years. Needless to say, there have been many small as well as drastic changes in the practice of law over those years. Following are five things that are different than they were in 1972. Next month’s blog will highlight another five.

1. Computers. Obviously, computers changed everything. It is hard to imagine that the first lawyer I shared office space, and some expenses with, refused to believe a computer could add up numbers and do various other calculations. It took me a long time to convince him even to purchase an IBM Selectric typewriter! (In fact, the first one I purchased had to be returned because the secretary at the time didn’t like it and didn’t want to learn how to use it.) In those days, when we talked about “cutting and pasting,” we actually were cutting and pasting.

2. Cell Phones. The practice of law was not immune to the revolution brought about by the emergence of the cell phone. The impact has been deep and wide sweeping as we all know. One practical example of how lawyers were impacted occurred at the registry of deeds. Anyone who has been to the Norfolk County Registry of Deeds in recent hears has observed a long, rectangular room to the right off the entry lobby. It has been used for a variety of things in recent years, including a coat room. Back in 1972 and years prior and subsequent thereto, the room was full of pay phones which lined each wall. A lawyer wanting to contact a title examiner to discuss a parcel of land would call a central number which would be answered by the registry’s paging person. That person would page the title examiner over a loud speaking system and the title examiner would be referred to whichever telephone in the telephone room was awaiting him. Obviously, this was a noisy, bustling system.

3. Recording Documents at the Registry of Deeds. Today, the list of all documents recorded with the registry can be viewed on one or more monitors in the main room at the registry. Recording can even be done remotely. In 1972, and for many years thereafter, before recording a new deed, we had to be sure no encumbrance had been put on the property since the date our full title examination ended. The recording desk maintained a handwritten list of documents as they were recorded. We would have to check that list, but also, check the documents that were in line to be recorded before ours and had not yet been entered on the list. They were kept in one or more trays at the recorder’s desk. Sometimes the line was very long. There even were times we would have to ask the recording clerk to show us what they were entering that very moment. Missing a document that affected the tile on the property you were working on could be disastrous.

4. Client’s Closing Accounts. When closing attorneys handle a closing, the funds for the purchase, whether from a bank mortgage or private funding, are deposited in the attorney’s client account and are distributed from it. The existing mortgage is paid off,  transfer taxes, recording fees, title insurance premiums and various other expenses are paid from this account and the balance is paid to the seller. Attorneys who handled closings for busy lenders very often had literally millions of dollars in their client account, usually for only a few days. However, back then, these accounts were paying pretty good interest rates. Interest on five million dollars, even for a few days, is a considerable sum. Before the Board of Bar Overseers (BBO) looked into this, the closing attorney was allowed to keep the interest earned on these accounts. That didn’t last for long. The BBO quickly implemented the requirement that all interest earned on these accounts were turned over to the BBO which distributes them to law related charities. It was nice while it lasted!

5. Transfer Tax. One more real estate item. While we are talking about real estate transactions, the transfer tax (or “tax stamps” as they are frequently referred to) is a tax placed on the transfer of real estate based on the value transferred. The tax is computed at $4.56 per thousand dollars transferred and is generally assessed to the seller of the property, deducted from the proceeds and paid to the registry of deeds at the time the title transferring deed is recorded. A transfer for $400,000.00, therefore, will generate a tax of $1,824.00. This is fine, except that the tax used to be computed at $2.28 per thousand until Governor Romney doubled it to $4.56 without warning. If you did a closing on a house the day before the increase, that sold for $400,000.00, you would have charged the seller $912.00 only to find, when you went to record the deed, that the amount you needed was $1,824.00. This was unexpected as the governor had pledged “No new taxes”. This caused some unpleasant scenes between sellers and closing attorneys. 

Check back in next month for the next five…