ANN RANKIN  
Email: arankin@annrankin.com  Download: Vcard

Ann Rankin has extensive successful experience representing homeowners' associations and other property owners in disputes and transactions involving both residential and commercial real property. She is a 1978 honors graduate of Boalt Hall School of Law, D.C. Berkeley.

Ms. Rankin has recovered millions of dollars on behalf of owners of apartment buildings, commercial buildings, and condominium complexes in connection with defective construction and design methods. Major successes have included:

A thirteen million dollar recovery on behalf of Watergate Community Association in Emeryville, CA;

A four million, six hundred thousand dollar recovery for The Gardens of Sunnyvale, CA; and

A four million, two hundred thousand dollar settlement on behalf of Mission Springs Homeowners Association in Fremont, CA.

Ms. Rankin is a member of the legal panels of Community Associations Institute (CAI); Executive Council of Home Owners (ECHO), Council of Condominium Home Owners (COCHA) and California Association of Community Managers (CACM). She regularly speaks at seminars organized by these groups, and regularly writes articles on legal topics of interest to homeowners associations and managers which are published in the newsletters of these organizations.

Ms. Rankin is also an affiliate Member of the Certified Commercial Investment Members' (CCIM) group within the National Association of Realtors, and she is a licensed California Real Estate Broker. Ms. Rankin has successfully represented real property investors, syndictors and developers in transactions involving Section 1031 Exchanges and group investments. She has also successfully litigated securities cases involving real property syndications. In addition, Ms. Rankin has a long history of her own real estate investments and rehabilitation projects. The Law Offices of Ann Rankin is housed in a property owned and rehabilitated by Ms. Rankin, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. Ms. Rankin's real estate investment and development activities have given her "hands on" experience which has proved valuable to her clients.

Ms. Rankin founded the Law Offices of Ann Rankin in 1986 to provide affordable, high-quality legal services to common interest development associations. Since that time, the firm has grown.

In 1987, Ms. Rankin purchased the Locke House in Oakland, California. She performed extensive renovations on the building and succeeded in having it converted to commercial use, and placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Law Offices of Ann Rankin is now housed in this building. Ms. Rankin has rehabilitated several other buildings as well. This kind of hands on" experience has given her special insight into practical problems facing owners and associations who must deal with problems arising out of improper building design and construction.

 

TERRY WILKENS 
Email: twilkens@annrankin.com  Download: Vcard

Terry Wilkens has been a successful trial attorney in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1987. He has won numerous jury verdicts for clients and has successfully handled more than 100 arbitrations and mediations in cases involving construction defects, personal injury and products liability.

 Prior to attending law school, Mr. Wilkens practiced as a civil engineer, performing design and field engineering work in a variety of settings, both in the United States and overseas. He graduated from Boalt Hall School of Law, U.C. Berkeley, and was admitted to the California Bar in 1985. He practiced construction litigation at the major firms of Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold and Pettit & Martin before joining the Law Offices of Ann Rankin. His successful trial experience and engineering expertise provide our clients with a huge competitive advantage over opposing counsel.

 

Lise K. Strom
Email: lstrom@annrankin.com  Download: Vcard

Lise K. Strom provides the firm’s clients with over ten years’ experience in transactional and regulatory legal work. Lise graduated from UCLA School of Law in 1996, and started her career as a telecommunications regulatory attorney, where she developed an expertise in drafting complex legal documents and analyzing statutes and regulations. A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, and interested in real estate law, she moved to the law firm of Little & Saputo, a well-known East Bay real estate boutique firm specializing in all aspects of legal work for developers of new common interest developments. As a result of that work, Lise became an expert in drafting governing documents for approval by the California Department of Real Estate (“DRE”), and assisting developers with all aspects of new projects. She developed an expertise in drafting and interpreting governing documents, and has a thorough understanding of the Davis-Stirling Act and related DRE regulations. She has also prepared a wide variety of real property contracts, easements, and related documents.

In 2007, she joined the LAW OFFICES OF ANN RANKIN, where she is a transactional attorney. Lise’s work with clients includes drafting and revising governing documents for common interest developments, preparing and revising commercial leases and purchase and sales contracts, and advising clients on how to prevent unnecessary legal problems. Lise also serves on the membership committee of East Bay Commercial Real Estate Women (“CREW”) and is the 2007 Chairperson of the Homebuilders’ Association of Northern California (“HBA”) DRE Committee. She is admitted to practice in the states of California, Oregon, and the District of Columbia

Also see: HOA Articles