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Why (as in yaverbaum)
would keep me working in the Litigation Department for a few transi- tion months (during which I feared that he wasn’t really going to let me move over to Real Estate). George was understanding (or acquiescent; he had little choice) during those frustrating and seemingly never-ending months, and that was that. When the break was finally complete, I was ready to start to try to become a real estate lawyer. And my career would move in directions that I could not possibly have anticipated.
Closing
George was a balding man in his mid-to-late forties who worked late every night, smoked a pipe, wore a three-piece suit or a suit with a velour vest, and never removed his jacket; he was, in fact, what I thought he would be—on a personal level. But there was one problem: It turns out that George was not a real real estate lawyer. He had been a litigator for most of his career, rising in the profession to become the head of civil appeals for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District. Unfortunately for me, he had only recently become a “real estate law- yer,” when he joined his dad, Nat, whose narrow practice involved working for builders who sought or already had a loan that was insured (essentially guaranteed) by the Federal Housing Administration. George could teach me drafting skills and something about the economics of development, but the FHA practice, which for the most part involved standardized forms, was boring; although it employed mortgages1 and
1. The numerous footnotes that I’ve included in this chapter—and some subsequent ones—are intended to spare some (most?) of you readers from having to deal with the more technical (to most, boring) aspects of the subject matter of my job as a real estate attorney and, in some in- stances, to explain non–real estate–related esoterica. (But you might find that some of this stuff is of interest and, occasionally—to keep you reading—mildly humorous.)
I will try my best in this chapter and other sections that relate to real estate—or other eso- terica—to avoid technical terms or to use footnotes to give you a meaning for any technical or esoteric term that I do use, unless (a) I assume that the reader knows the meaning, can infer it, or doesn’t care or (b), as will be more likely, I’m only trying to dazzle you with the complexity of what I did for a living. Apparently, sad to say, it is probable that none of this matters: When I
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