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Even lawyers are going green these days.
To strengthen their professional portfolios and better understand the needs of their developer clients, lawyers throughout the state and the nation are studying for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Accredited Professional status from the U.S. Green Building Council Certification Institute in Washington, D.C.
More than 300 legal professionals have obtained this accreditation in the United States, including 13 in Maryland, to help developers navigate the council's certification process with its various levels of environmental friendliness.
John P. Davey and William M. Shipp, managing director and land-use practice group leader, respectively, with O'Malley, Miles, Nylen & Gilmore, a real estate law firm in Calverton, are the most recently accredited green lawyers in the state and the first in Prince George's County.
"Increasingly, issues of sustainability are becoming more prominent in our clients' projects," said Shipp, a former chairman of the Prince George's Chamber of Commerce. "It's a little bit different than you would usually think, but when you think about it, lawyers are just as involved in the development process. … We need to become knowledgeable in these standards."
The process involves a month of classes, followed by a test on the LEED rating system's six areas: sustainable sites, water efficiency, green energy-atmosphere materials, durable and renewable resources, and indoor air quality.
Rex Wright, head of the Maryland chapter of the Green Building Council, said more lawyers are seeking accreditation so they can help developers prepare contracts for green buildings.
"It's a new area of liability," said Bryant F. Foulger, a principal with the Foulger-Pratt Cos. of Rockville, which is developing the green East Campus project in College Park with the help of O'Malley, Miles, Nylen & Gilmore.
"Making sure people understand the implications is important," Foulger said. "You won't know if your building is actually LEED Silver until the tenant is in, and you have certified the building. Then what happens if you don't hit LEED Silver?"
LEED has four levels of certification; silver is below platinum and gold, but above certified.
Lawyers need to draft contracts to ensure the tenant keeps to the LEED standards, with everything from construction practices to equipment and materials used in the building, said Arnold Kohn, general counsel for The Tower Cos., a Rockville developer.
Kohn was accredited this winter, wanting to provide the green-focused Tower with as much expertise as possible, and also earn himself another qualification in the process. Tower is upgrading numerous local buildings to LEED standards and worked on The Blairs apartments in Silver Spring, another green project.
"You're going to see more people doing this," Kohn said, adding that two other Tower lawyers are also accredited, along with other employees pursuing the status.
Kohn recently presented the accreditation topic at an informal group of real estate legal professionals and drew a significant response, he said.
People have little doubt that interest in green buildings is going to grow, given President Obama's and the international industry's focus on sustainable construction, said John Richards, a principal with Trish Cooper & Associates, a construction and permitting company in Silver Spring.
Richards, a former in-house lawyer for Fannie Mae, pursued accreditation last month to shift his career into the sustainable commercial real estate market.
"[Businesses] are assigning a premium to those who demonstrate knowledge of LEED," he said.
Some Maryland jurisdictions are also beginning to require LEED Silver-certified buildings or offering incentives for developers who produce them, said Francie C. Spahn of Saul Ewing, a Baltimore firm.
Spahn, who has assisted with the green multi-unit Waverly Gardens complex in Woodstock, said she sought accreditation last year to learn how to anticipate and address issues that come up in contracting for LEED projects.
Wright said the trend in LEED-accredited lawyers started about three years ago but has really picked up within the last 18 months. He joked that the legal interest surprised him at first.
"It makes sense for anyone involved in the transactional side to understand the LEED process," Foulger said, adding that having accredited lawyers on the team "certainly wouldn't hurt."
