ORANGE COUNTY HOMEOWNERS - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• Partner
• General Counsel to Hundreds of HOAs

Austin Nichter has been litigating for a decade and has significant experience in HOA-related law. Austin appears at trials multiple times a year involving common interest developments, for matters ranging from assessments, maintenance/repair issues, injunctions, restraining orders, property line/easement disputes, corporate governance, election challenges and contract breach cases. Austin serves as general counsel to hundreds of HOAs per year regarding matters involving the Davis-Stirling Act, corporate governance, rewriting CC&Rs / Bylaws, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act / Rosenthal Act, and employment issues. Austin also supervises Feldsott, Lee & Nichter's assessment collection department for both contested and noncontested cases with a higher than 90% collection recovery rate. Austin is a member of the Community Associations Institute and regularly provides education regarding assessment collection, CC&Rs duties, and enforcement. Austin attended and graduated from the UC College of the Law, San Francisco (UC Hastings) in 2012. During this time, Austin completed legal internships at the City Attorney's Offices of Huntington Beach and of San Francisco where he focused on code enforcement and property disputes. Austin also clerked as a judicial intern for Judge Ernest Goldsmith and Judge Tomar Mason where he researched and drafted briefs/decisions on property, tort, nuisance and indemnity issues. Austin graduated with a B.A. in Global Economics from UC Santa Cruz during which time he gained an avid passion for surfing and a study-abroad year in Spain. Austin enjoys donating time to Mission Plasticos (Plasticos Foundation), a non-profit dedicated to training reconstructive plastic surgeons in other countries. Practice Areas A Proven Law Firm for California HOAs

Job Titles:

• Founding Principal ( Retired )

Martin Lee was a founding member of the law firm and is now retired. Mr. Lee completed his undergraduate education in 1968 as a dean list scholar at the University of California, Santa Barbara, graduating with a membership in the Phi Alpha Beta Honors Society. Mr. Lee completed his legal education at Hastings College of Law (University of California) in San Francisco where he was in the top quarter of his class and obtained his juris doctor degree in 1973. Mr. Lee has also done graduate work at the graduate faculty of the New School for Social Research in New York City and at the University of California, Irvine. Prior to the formation of the law firm, Mr. Lee was employed as a writer for Matthew Bender, one of the leading publishers in the area of legal writing at the time. Since 1974, Mr. Lee has been admitted to practice before all courts in the state of California and has also been admitted to practice before the Southern District of the United States District Court. Mr. Lee was a frequent contributor of articles for the Community Association Institute (CAI), as well as other association publications. Mr. Lee directed the firm's appellate research and briefing department. He has been involved in a number of reported appellate court decisions in the community association field. Laguna Royale Owners Association v. Darger, Cohen v. Kite Hill Community Association, and Harbor View v. Torley are still cited today as landmark decisions. Mr. Lee's arguments in the Kite Hill case regarding enforcement of CC&Rs were adopted by the California Supreme Court.