Shawn Elpel is a skilled negotiator with extensive transactional and litigation experience, helping him counsel individual, corporate, and institutional clients in all aspects of business and real estate law, title insurance, and construction law.
Shawn brings an informed, resourceful approach to his litigation practice, helping him develop tailored legal strategies to meet a variety of client needs. Focusing specifically on construction and real estate disputes, Shawn represents contractors, builders, engineers, professional service people, and others in trying to establish priority. Shawn performs such additional services as drafting construction agreements and contracts, analyzing the risks of construction lien rights, and securing appropriate indemnities and agreements from developers and contractors.
Shawn is also active in the areas of transactional law, title insurance law, and business formation. Shawn honed his transactional and real estate skills as vice president and underwriting counsel at LandAmerica Commercial Services in Seattle, where he underwrote numerous multisite and high-liability commercial real estate transactions. Shawn also guided LandAmerica's management, legal staff, and agents on the effects of current, new, and/or proposed legislation and regulations, allowing the company to manage its business smoothly and efficiently.
As a title insurance lawyer, Shawn represents clients looking to protect themselves against loss in a title dispute over property. He also represents professionals from a spectrum of occupations in setting up LLCs, S-Corps, C-Corps, partnerships, and other business entities.
Representative Matters
- Acquisition and sales
- Adverse possession
- Boundary line disputes
- Breach of contract
- Commercial lease negotiations
- Commercial construction and real estate litigation
- Commercial and residential real estate transactions
- Construction contract negotiations
- Construction lien foreclosures
- Covenants, conditions, and restrictions (CC&R's)
- Easements
- General business disputes
- Property development
- Real property disputes
- Title insurance litigation
Past Professional Experience
- Vice President/Underwriting Counsel, LandAmerica Commercial Services, Seattle; underwrote transactions for national title company in all 50 states while acting as lead counsel on multisite/high-liability commercial real estate transactions
Teaching and Speaking Engagements
- Licensed Washington State Real Estate Clock Hour instructor:
> Real estate law
> Construction and land development
> Real estate finance
> Real estate closing practices
> Legal aspects of hazardous waste/other environmental issues
> Taxation
- Co-creator and co-lead instructor of University of Washington Tacoma’s Commercial Real Estate Certificate Program, 2008-09
- "Update and Recent Decisions on Mechanics' Lien Litigation and Title Insurance Litigation," WSBA 2011 Real Property, Probate & Trust Section Midyear Meeting, 2011
- "Title Insurance and Endorsements," Clark County Bar Association, 2009
- "Examination of Curative Actions Available to Obtain Clear Title," National Business Institute (NBI) seminar: Examining and Resolving Title Issues, December 2006
Community Involvement
- Past Vice President, Evergreen Habitat for Humanity Board of Directors
- Member: Evergreen Football Officials Association