Boundaries, Easements & Ethics
Agenda
Registration: 8:00 – 8:30 am
Morning Session: 8:30 am – 12:15 pm
Lunch (On your own): 12:15 – 1:15 pm
Afternoon Session: 1:15- 4:40 pm
Locating Land Boundaries on Paper (And on the Ground)
Interpreting land descriptions
• Metes and bounds
• Lot and block
• Dos and don’ts for writing descriptions
Applying principles of boundary location
• Collecting and evaluating all types of boundary evidence: documents, physical evidence, people, surveys
• Locating the described land on a map
• Locating the described land on the ground
• Understanding and using geographic information systems (GIS)
Solving land description and boundary location problems
Identifying, Classifying and Locating Easements
What is and is not an easement
Reviewing state law on easements
Creating easements: easements by necessity, easements by use, written easements
Identifying critical distinctions between easements in gross, easements appurtenant and prescriptive easements
Maintaining easements
Knowing when and how to terminate easements
Obstructing use of easements and determining remedies for obstruction
Defining Trespass and Adverse Possession
Defining trespass
Reviewing the history of adverse possession
Maintaining a claim for adverse possession
• Statute of limitations
• Elements of a claim
Defending against a claim for adverse possession
Examining recent adverse possession cases
Avoiding, Identifying and Resolving Ethical Issues in Land Transactions and Disputes
Conflicts of interest: identifying your client
What duties do you owe, and to whom do you owe them?
When ethical rules conflict
Do you need to maintain confidentiality, and for whom?
Complying with your professional responsibility for honesty and truthfulness
Practicing only in areas of competence
Taking referrals from other professionals
Understanding Riparian and Water Rights
History and development of riparian rights
Determining land boundaries near the water line
Determining access rights to surface waters
Determining rights to groundwater
Complying with regulations restricting access to and use of surface water and groundwater
Understanding Utility Easements and Rights of Way
Current law on utility rights of way
• Federal laws and regulations
• State laws and regulations
Types of utilities affected
• Electric, water, natural gas, telecommunications, satellite communications
Basis for and definition of the easement
Encroachments and interferences
Maintenance
Environmental issues
Condemnation law
Current issues involving utility easements
Credits
Attorneys
8.0 New York CLE Hours, Including 1.0 Ethics Hour
Land Surveyors & Engineers
6.5 Continuing Ed. Hours, Including 1.0 Ethics Hour
Continuing Education Credit Information
This seminar is open to the public. HalfMoon Education is certified by the New York State CLE Board as an Accredited Provider of CLE programs*. This traditional format course offers 7.0 Areas of Professional Practice CLE hours and 1.0 ethics hour, which are appropriate for new and experienced attorneys.
HalfMoon Education is approved as a continuing education provider by the New York State Education Department/State Board for Engineering and Land Surveying (NYSED Sponsor No: 35). This event provides up to 6.5 continuing education hours, including 1.0 ethics hour, to New York land surveyors and engineers to whom the subject matter is professionally relevant.
Attendance will be monitored, and attendance certificates will be available at the seminar for those who attend the entire event. Attendance certificates not available at the seminar will be mailed to participants within fifteen business days.
*HalfMoon Education will provide financial hardship assistance to New York attorneys who wish to attend this event. Contact Doug Chapman at doug@halfmoonseminars.org for details.
Speakers
Matthew Noviello
Principal in Noviello & Noviello, Esqs. and Principal in Matthew A. Noviello, P.E., L.S. in Carmel, NY
Mr. Noviello is an attorney-at-law, a professional engineer, and land surveyor who enjoys teaching. He has taught real property law, survey law and, more recently, alpine skiing. Mr. Noviello received his Master of Engineering degree, his Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering, with honors, and his AAS degree in Engineering, all from Rochester Institute of Technology. He received his juris doctor degree from Rutgers University School of Law-Newark. Mr. Noviello has maintained a professional engineering firm and a general practice law firm since 1984, and he has practiced land surveying since 1991, with ten years in industry and six years in government. He is a licensed professional engineer in the states of New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Mr. Noviello is a New York and Connecticut licensed land surveyor. He holds law licenses in New York State Courts, US Supreme Court, Federal Court for the Southern District of New York, and Federal Court for the State of New Jersey.