Attorney helps park residents save their homes

Three years ago, residents of the

Lockwood Mobile Home Park wondered

how much longer they would have a place

to live. The Internal Revenue Service had

seized the park from its owner, and residents

didn't know from one day to the next when

they might have to leave. Many wouldn't

have been able to afford the cost of moving

their homes or the rent at other parks - as

much as six times what they were paying at

Lockwood.

Today, though, the residents know they

can stay put. Now part of a cooperative

housing corporation, they own the park

themselves, thanks in part to Karen

Dennison. She provided hundreds of hours

of free legal work as part of a team of attorneys

that helped the Lockwood residents.

The Access to Justice Foundation

recently honored Dennison with a

Distinguished Service award for her pro

bono work on the project. The foundation

strives to bridge the gap of unmet legal

needs for Nevada residents with limited

incomes.

Dennison is a real estate attorney and

shareholder with the law firm Hale Lane in

Reno. She has more than 30 years experience

in property acquisition, development,

leasing, sale and financing and has represented

both owners and lenders in transactions

involving mixed-use and masterplanned

residential community developments.

Dennison got involved with the

Lockwood project a little more than three

years ago when Ernie Nielsen, a Washoe

County Senior Legal Project staff attorney,

called and asked for help. Nielsen was working

with the residents and needed someone

with a keen understanding of real-estate

law. Dennison empathized with the residents

and came on board immediately. She

and Nielsen worked with attorney Eileen

Piekarz of the Rural Community Assistance

Corp. to help the residents form a cooperative

housing corporation and make an offer

to the IRS to buy the park. Hale Lane

attorneys Fritz Battcher and

Doug Flowers also pitched in,

and the residents themselves

gathered volumes of information.

"It was a team effort,"

Dennison says.

Dennison had done pro

bono work before for the

Senior Law Project, but this

was by far the biggest endeavor.

How did she balance it with

her regular work?

"There was no balancing

involved," she says. "It just had

to get done."

The project involved complex

legal issues, intense work

and patience. "It took three

years to get the IRS to accept

the offer," Dennison says. "You

have to deal with the government's

timeframe."

The park needed a lot of

improvements, so the attorneys

structured the offer so those

would be credited toward the

purchase. Dennison says the

community cooperative idea is

novel for Nevada and could

become a model for other

affordable housing projects.

Nielsen says Dennison's

expertise was invaluable. He

says she has the knack to stay

focused on the big picture, as

she minds the fine details, all

the while maintaining a sense

of peripheral vision to keep

track of anything else that

might pop up. She appears

equally comfortable counseling

a group of residents and working

with one or two attorneys

on stacks of legal documents.

"She is very, very, very giving

of her time," he says. "Her

energy never fails her."

Dennison says the reward of

the project was watching residents

create a vision for their

community and helping it

come true. "A lot of credit goes

to the residents because they

put in a lot of work."

The sale of the park closed

May 5, but the project is not

over yet. The next phase is

closing a loan to upgrade the

park's water and sewer systems.

Dennison says all attorneys

should do pro bono work. Her

philosophy is simple. "We take

a lot from the community.We

should give back."

Dennison, a political science

graduate of University of

Nevada, Reno, got her law

degree from University of San

Francisco in 1972, one of five

women out of 100 students in

her class. She went right to

work for Edward Hale, who

was growing a real estate practice

in Nevada.

"He was an interesting person

and knew property law

inside and out." The firm has

grown since then, and Hale

died in 1993, but it retains the

collegial atmosphere that

attracted Dennison.

She is a fellow of the

American College of Mortgage

Attorneys and is listed in the

Best Lawyers in America publication

in real estate law. At

Hale Lane, she continues to

enjoy the challenge of assembling

transactions and recently

has been getting involved with

lobbying the Nevada legislature.

"I still enjoy my work after

30 years."