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Edward J. Levin, Member

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Clients say he is ‘fantastic: he is the lawyer of lawyers, and is always there to answer a question.’

-Chambers USA 2017

Contact

elevin@gfrlaw.com
410-576-1900
410-576-1900 (fax)

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As an experienced and respected real estate lawyer, Ed has learned how to help clients meet their business goals quickly and efficiently. Ed is effective because he thoroughly understands each deal, including the specific legal requirements and each party’s issues in every transaction. He tailors his services to negotiate every matter skillfully to get to closing smoothly. Equally important, clients value his experience, skills and sense of humor, which make each project as enjoyable as possible. As an experienced and respected real estate lawyer, Ed has learned how to help clients meet their business goals quickly and efficiently. Ed is effective because he thoroughly understands each deal, including the specific legal requirements and each party’s issues in every transaction. He tailors his services to negotiate every matter skillfully to get to closing smoothly. Equally important, clients value his experience, skills, and sense of humor, which make each project as enjoyable as possible. Ed considers the success of his clients his greatest professional achievement.

Ed is a Member of the firm's Real Estate practice group. He focuses on helping clients with real estate matters involving financing, leasing, purchase and sale, workouts, foreclosure, and rendering third-party opinion letters in real estate financing transactions. In transactions involving real property located in Maryland, Ed frequently serves as local counsel, working with out-of-state lawyers. Ed has vast experience in dealing with Maryland’s high recordation and transfer taxes, which are imposed at the state and local levels, and he has been able to structure financing and purchase transactions in ways that eliminate or substantially reduce these taxes. Ed also has substantial experience in rendering opinion letters in connection with business law and environmental and energy transactions. Ed has served as an expert witness on cases relating to real estate and professional liability matters.

Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business has recognized Ed as a “first-rate lawyer” and “national leader” among real estate attorneys in Maryland. 

In addition to his work for specific client matters, Ed has written over 300 articles on real estate, opinion letters, and recordation and transfer taxes and has made more than 100 presentations on these subjects. He co-authored a book on real estate leasing forms. 

Ed has been instrumental in developing and writing numerous bar and professional association reports and publications regarding third-party opinion letters. Ed has been honored by legal and mortgage banking organizations for his contributions to his profession and to the community.

Ed has been a member, and is past Chair, of the Legislative Liaison Committee of the Real Property Section of the Maryland State Bar Association for more than 40 years. Ed has drafted legislation and testified before committees of the Maryland General Assembly on topics including the Rule Against Perpetuities as it applies to commercial transactions in Maryland; the application of recordation tax to indemnity deeds of trust (IDOTs), supplemental instruments, and refinancing instruments; application of recordation and transfer taxes applicable to transfers of controlling interests in entities; naming of trustees under deeds of trust; survival of leases after foreclosure sales; certificates of preparation of assignments of leases and rents; and the Maryland Commercial Receivership Act.
 

Representative Matters

Legislative Activities

Author of Senate Bill 980 (2019), “Real Property – Recordation of Deeds – Assignments of Rents and Assignments of Leases for Security Purposes”; testified before the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee March 13, 2019.  Drafted and testified on Senate Bill 154 (enacted as Chapter 423) before the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee and on House Bill 1084 (enacted as Chapter 424) before the House Environment and Transportation Committee, entitled “Real Property – Recordation of Deeds – Assignments of Rents and Assignments of Leases for Security Purposes,” February 2020.
 

Author of House Bill 1360 (2019), “Estates and Trusts - Rule Against Perpetuities - Exception for Tenant's Option to Purchase.”  Drafted and testified on Senate Bill 152 (enacted as Chapter 51) before the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee and on House Bill 94 (enacted as Chapter 50) before the House Judiciary Committee, entitled “Estates and Trusts - Rule Against Perpetuities,” February 2020.

Testified before the House Economic Matters Committee on March 8, 2017 on the Maryland Commercial Receivership Act, House Bill 1180 (cross-filed with Senate Bill 895).  The receivership act was introduced in 2019 as House Bill 1065 and Senate Bill 695 and was enacted as Chapter 284 of the Laws of Maryland of 2019.

Drafter and primary proponent of Senate Bill 597 and House Bill 1226 in the Maryland General Assembly (Chapters 223 and 224 of the Laws of Maryland of 2016), which amended exemptions for recordation and transfer taxes on transfers of controlling interests of Maryland real property entitles.

Testified before the Maryland Senate Budget and Taxation Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee on Senate Bill 436 and House Bill 1209 entitled “Recordation Taxes – Exemptions” on March 5 and 7, 2013, regarding recordation taxes on indemnity deeds of trust (IDOTs) and refinances generally.  The bills passed unanimously and became Chapters 267 and 268 of the Laws of Maryland of 2013. NAIOP Maryland won a national award from NAIOP for this legislative achievement, and NAIOP Maryland honored Ed Levin and Barry C. Greenberg, Rosenberg Martin Greenberg; Richard E. Levine, DLA Piper; and Howard L. Perlow, Commercial Settlement Services, with the F. Patrick Hughes Legislative Award on April 24, 2014 for their assistance on this.
 

 

Honors

Recipient, F. Patrick Hughes Legislative Award, NAIOP Maryland, April 24, 2014

Named Baltimore's "Lawyer of the Year" in Real Estate by Best Lawyers in America®, 2012

Recipient, Leadership in Law Award, The Daily Record, 2007

Named "Distinguished Maryland Real Property Practitioner" by the MSBA Section of Real Property, Planning and Zoning, 2006-2007

Named "Mortgage Associate of the Year" by the Maryland Mortgage Bankers Association, 2004

Named to The Best Lawyers in America® for Real Estate Law since 1989

Named to Chambers USA® : America's Leading Lawyers for Business top tier of real estate attorneys in Maryland since 2008

Named to International Who's Who of Real Estate Lawyers since 2008

Selected to Maryland Super Lawyers® list for Real Estate since 2007

Selected to Maryland Super Lawyers® Top 50 list, 2007 and 2008

AV Preeminent™ rating in Martindale-Hubbell®

News

Professional and Civic Involvement

Chair, Co-chair or Member, Maryland Mortgage Bankers Association, Inc., Legislative Committee, May 1991 – present; 

Chair, MSBA, Section of Real Property, Planning and Zoning, Legislative Liaison Committee (formerly known as Code Revision Committee, January 1983 - December 1985; Member, January 1986 – present

Member, American Bar Association (ABA)

Member, ABA Section of Real Property, Trust and Estate Law; Chair, Legal Opinions in Real Estate Transactions Committee, 2009-2013

Group Chair, ABA Section of Real Property, Trust and Estate Law, Real Estate Financing Group, September 2014-August 2016

Member, Maryland State Bar Association (MSBA)

Chair, MSBA Section of Real Property, Planning and Zoning, 1988-1990

Member, MSBA Section of Real Property, Planning and Zoning, Legislative Liaison Committee, 1983-present; Chair, 1983-1985

Co-Chair, Special Joint Committee on Lawyers' Opinions in Commercial Transactions of the MSBA and the Bar Association of Baltimore City, 1987-1989

Member, Special Joint Committee on Lawyers' Opinions in Business Transactions of the MSBA Section of Business Law and Section of Real Property, Planning and Zoning, 2004-2009; Chair, 2009-2010

Member, American College of Real Estate Lawyers (ACREL); Chair, ACREL's Attorneys' Opinions Committee, 1993-1999

Member, Joint Drafting Committee of the ABA, ACREL, ACMA collaborative that prepared the Real Estate Finance Opinion Report of 2012, 47 Real Prop. Tr. & Est. L. J. 213 (2012)

Co-Editor, Local Counsel Supplement to the Real Estate Finance Opinion Report of 2012, 51 Real Prop. Tr. & Est. L. J. 167 (2016)

Legal Counsel, Maryland Mortgage Bankers Association, Inc., 1995-present

Member, Baltimore Metropolitan Area Advisory Board, Chicago Title Insurance Company, 1997-2013

Fellow, ABA Foundation

Life Fellow, Maryland Bar Foundation

President, Baltimore Board of Jewish Education (now known as the Louise D. and Morton J. Macks Center for Jewish Education), 1989-1991

Publications and Lectures

Lectures and Presentations

Recent Presentations on General Real Estate Matters

Presented, “Recent Cases Regarding Real Estate” at the MSBA Real Property Section, Commercial Real Estate Discussion Group . I have presented this each year since 2015 and each year since 2020, with Paul C. Levin of Venable LLP. 

Panelist on “Shelter Senior Living IV, LLC v. Baltimore County -- Recordation and Transfer Taxes in Sales Including Intangible Property,” MSBA Real Property Section, Commercial Real Estate Discussion Group Lunch on March 8, 2022 with Paul Caiola and Ella Aiken of Gallagher Evelius & Jones, LLP.

Presented, “What Maryland Courts are Saying about Real Estate” at the Advanced Real Property Institute (ARPI), presented as part of the MSBA’s Legal Excellence Week on March 14, 2022, with Paul C. Levin of Venable LLP. 

Panelist, “Subordination, Non-Disturbance and Attornment Agreements in Commercial Leasing and Real Estate Finance,” Strafford webinar, December 11, 2013, November 13, 2014, November 3, 2015, and November 10, 2016 (with John Matthew Trott of Cox, Castle & Nicolson LLP, Los Angeles) and December 19, 2017 (with David W. Adams of Carlton Fields, Atlanta).

Speaker on “2015 Maryland Real Property Legislation and Recent Appellate Court Decisions including Falls Garden Condominium Association, Inc. v. Falls Homeowners Association, Inc.” at the meeting of the Commercial Real Estate Attorneys Discussion Group of the Maryland State Bar Association’s Section of Real Property, Planning, and Zoning on May 12, 2015 in Baltimore.

Presented on 2014 Maryland Real Property Legislation, Commercial Real Estate Discussion Group, Section of Real Property, Planning and Zoning, MSBA, April 8, 2014 (with John P. Machen)

Panelist on the “IDOT and Related Entities Panel” at NAIOP Maryland’s Legislative and Regulatory Policy Conference at the Marriott Waterfront in Baltimore on October 7, 2013.  

Panelist on “IDOTs Are Not Yet Past Tense – Refinancings After July 1, 2013” on October 2, 2013 at the Advanced Real Property Institute at the Sheraton Columbia Hotel in Columbia, Maryland

Speaker at MylesTitle Advisory Council Breakfast Seminar on “The Everchanging IDOT Issue,” Hunt Valley, Maryland, May 16, 2013.  Posted at Advisory Council Seminar Archive or http://www.marylandcommercialtitle.com/advisorycouncil.php.

Presenter on Senate Bill 436 and House Bill 1209 entitled “Recordation Taxes – Exemptions” to the Commercial Real Estate Discussion Group of the MSBA’s Section of Real Property, Planning and Zoning on March 12, 2013 at the Hotel Monaco, Baltimore,

Speaker at MylesTitle Advisory Council Breakfast Seminar on “Maryland IDOTs, Past, Present and Future,” Hunt Valley, Maryland, September 13, 2012.  Posted at Advisory Council Seminar Archive or http://www.marylandcommercialtitle.com/advisorycouncil.php.

Presenter of “2012 Legislation, Including Issues Surviving the Demise of the IDOT” to the Commercial Real Estate Discussion Group of the MSBA’s Section of Real Property, Planning and Zoning on September 11, 2012 at the Hotel Monaco, Baltimore.

Participant in discussion before the Bankruptcy Bar Association for the District of Maryland Luncheon Meeting on “Hidden Dangers - the IDOT Recapture Tax and How It Could Jeopardize Your Debtor’s Plan,” held on April 18, 2012, 100 East Pratt Street, Baltimore, Maryland.

Presented on “Howard County, Maryland Changes the Rules Regarding Recordation Taxes on Indemnity Deeds of Trust” to the Commercial Real Estate Discussion Group of the MSBA’s Section of Real Property, Planning and Zoning on November 15, 2011 at the Sheraton Baltimore City Center Hotel.

Speaker at MylesTitle Advisory Council Breakfast Seminar on “IDOTs in 2010:  Under Attack, But Still Standing,” Lutherville, Maryland, May 13, 2010.  Posted at Advisory Council Seminar Archive or http://www.marylandcommercialtitle.com/advisorycouncil.php

Recent Presentations on General Real Estate Matters

Presented, “Navigating UCC Issues in Real Estate Finance Opinions: The ABA/ACMA/ACREL/ACCFL Opinion Report,” a Strafford Webinar on September 5, 2019; September 3, 2020; August 29, 2023; and August 7, 2025, with R. Marshall Grodner, Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Steven O. Weise, Los Angeles, California.

Panelist, “Real Estate Opinion Letters: Getting Them Right” ALI CLE webinar, May 17, 2022, with Sterling Scott Willis, New Orleans, Louisiana.  Replayed by ALI on August 4, 2022 and October 27, 2022.

Moderator and presenter, “Legal Opinions: Best Practices and Strategies in Real Estate Finance Transactions” ABA CLE webinar, with Anne- Thérèse Béchamps of Venable LLP.

Panelist, “Opinion Letters: Nuts and Bolts,” at Advanced Business Law Institute, part of MSBA Legal Excellence Week, November 10, 2020, with Anne-Thérèse Béchamps and Hirsh M. Ament of Venable LLP.

Panelist, “Drafting Real Estate Opinion Letters, It’s All about the Details” ALI CLE webinar, May 27, 2020, with Sterling Scott Willis.

Panelist, “Focusing on the Opinions in Real Estate Transaction Opinion Letters,” ALI CLE webinar, May 17, 2019, with Sterling Scott Willis.

Panelist, “Real Estate Opinion Letters: Best Practices, Liabilities, and Strategies,” ALI CLE webinar, January 31, 2019, with Sterling Scott Willis.

Panelist, “Legal Opinions – How They Help Make the Deal Happen,” webinar of the ABA Section of Real Property, Trust & Estate Law on May 16, 2018, with Cheryl Kelly, St. Louis, Missouri and Charles L. Menges, Richmond, Virginia

Panelist, “Legal Opinions in Real Estate Transactions: What You Need To Know,” American Law Institute (ALI) webinar, March 21, 2017 with Sterling Scott Willis of Fishman Haygood L.L.P., New Orleans, Louisiana. Replayed by ALI June 16, 2017 and on December 5, 2017.

Panelist, “Local Counsel Opinions in Real Estate Finance Transactions,” webinar sponsored by ABA RPTE, ACREL, and American College of Mortgage Attorneys (ACMA), July 19, 2017, with William B. Dunn, Clark Hill P.L.C., Grand Rapids, Michigan; Lydia Stefanowicz, Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith & Davis LLP, Woodbridge, New Jersey; and Sterling Scott Willis of FishmanHaygood L.L.P., New Orleans, Louisiana.

Panelist, “The Proposed Maryland Commercial Receivership Act: Providing Certainty and Uniformity to Receivership Practice in Maryland,” at the Commercial Real Estate Discussion Group Lunch of the MSBA’s Real Property Section, February 14, 2017 (with Lawrence D. Coppel of Gordon Feinblatt LLC and Joyce A. Kuhns of Offit|Kurman).    

Panelist, “Maryland Commercial Receivership Act: Civilizing the Wild Wild West of State Court Insolvency and Receivership Practice,” sponsored by the MSBA’s Business Law Section and Real Property Section, December 20, 2016 (with Lawrence D. Coppel of Gordon Feinblatt LLC and Joyce A. Kuhns of Offit|Kurman).

Speaker on “LOCO for Local Counsel Opinion Letters; A Discussion of the Supplement to the Real Estate Finance Opinion Report of 2012” at MSBA’s Advanced Real Property Institute, September 27, 2016, in Columbia, Maryland.

Program coordinator and panelist on the webinar sponsored by the ABA Section of Real Property, Trust and Estate Law on Legal Opinions in the series entitled “Fundamentals of Commercial Real Estate” on May 25, 2016.

Panelist on “Local Counsel Opinion Letters:  A Revolutionary Supplement to the Real Estate Finance Opinion Report of 2012” at the Spring Symposia of the ABA’s Section of Real Property, Estate and Trust Law Boston, Massachusetts, May 12, 2016, with William B. Dunn, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Charles L. Menges, Richmond, Virginia. and Lydia C. Stefanowicz, Iselin, New Jersey and Sterling Scott Willis, New Orleans, Louisiana.

Panelist on “LOCO for Local Counsel Opinion, An Introduction To ‘Local Counsel Opinion Letters in Real Estate Finance Transactions - A Supplement to the Real Estate Finance Opinion Report Of 2012’” at the meeting of ACREL in San Diego, California on March 18, 2016, with Lydia C. Stefanowicz, Iselin, New Jersey and Sterling Scott Willis, New Orleans, Louisiana.

Panelist on “LLC Legal Opinions; Changing Opinions — Opinion Practice for Limited Liability Companies” a webinar jointly sponsored by the American Bar Association’s Section of Real Property, Trust & Estate Law and Section of Business Law, with Sylvia Fung Chin, White & Case LLP, New York, New York and Norman Powell, Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor, LLP, Wilmington, Delaware on May 20, 2015.

Panelist on “Risky Business: Who Gets Sued over Opinion Letters and How to Reduce Your Chances of Being Next” at the Spring Symposia of the ABA’s Section of Real Property, Trust & Estate Law on May 1, 2015 in Washington, D.C. with Charles L. Menges, of McGuireWoods LLP, Richmond, Virginia; Shauna Reeder of High Exposure Professional Services CNA, New York, New York; and  Craig D. Singer and John K. Villa, of Williams & Connolly LLP, Washington, D.C.

Organizer and panelist, ABA RPTE webinar in the 2014 Fundamentals of Commercial Real Estate program entitled, “An Introduction to Third Party Opinion Letter Policy and Some Practice Pointers for Transactional Attorneys,” March 19, 2014 (with Charles L. Menges of McGuireWoods LLP, Richmond, Virginia and Lydia C. Stefanowicz of Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP, Morristown, New Jersey).

Panelist, ABA RPTE Real Estate Finance Group call on “Enforceability Opinions and Their Qualifications,” January 15, 2014 (with Charles L. Menges of McGuireWoods LLP, Richmond, Virginia)

Moderator and Panelist on webinar entitled “You Want WHAT Opinions from Us?  A Look at the Real Estate Finance Opinion Report of 2012” of the ABA Section of Real Property, Trust and Estate Law eCLE on June 19, 2013.

Presented to the ACREL Attorneys’ Opinions Committee at the ACREL Mid-Year Meeting on choice of law issues addressed in IRB-Brasil Resseguros, S.A. v. Inepar Investments, S.A., 20 N.Y.3d 310 (2012), 982 N.E.2d 609, 958 N.Y.S.2d 689, 2012 N.Y. Slip Op. 086692012 WL 6571286 (NY Ct. App., December 17, 2012), on March 15, 2013 in Naples, Florida.

Panelist on “What’s in Your Opinion?  The Real Estate Finance Opinion Report of 2012” and co leader of workshops on the same topic at the ACREL Mid-Year Meeting on March 15-16, 2013 in Naples, Florida.

Moderator and Panelist on “You Want WHAT Opinions from Us? A Look at the Real Estate Finance Opinion Report of 2012” at the ABA Section of Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Spring Symposia in Washington, D.C., May 2, 2013.

Presenter of Hot Tips on The Real Estate Finance Opinion Report of 2012 (née the Annotated Real Estate Finance Opinion) at ACREL Annual Meeting, October 19-20, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois

Presenter of Hot Tips on The Real Estate Finance Opinion Report of 2012 (née the Annotated Real Estate Finance Opinion) and on Governmental Agency Opinions at ABA RPTE Leadership Fall Meeting, November 9, 2012, in Palm Beach, Florida

Panelist on “Issues Confronted by Local Counsel Opinions” at the ABA Business Law Section Annual Meeting at the Chicago Marriott Downtown on August 5, 2012.

Presented “Governmental Opinions” as a Hot Topic at the Fall Leadership Meeting of the ABA’s Section of Real Property, Trust and Estate Law at Scottsdale, Arizona on November 5, 2011.

Panelist on “Issues and Trends in Legal Opinion Practice” at a meeting of the Real Estate Section of the Montgomery County State Bar Association on September 13, 2011 in Potomac, Maryland.

Organizer and moderator of panel discussion entitled “The Annotated Real Estate Finance Opinion Project: Gambol, Guide, Goal, or Gift” at the ABA Section of Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Spring Symposia in Washington, D.C., April 28, 2011.

Presented “The Annotated Real Estate Finance Opinion Project” as a Hot Topic at the Fall Leadership meeting of the ABA’s Section of Real Property, Trust and Estate Law in Charleston, South Carolina, November 13, 2010.

Moderator of panel presentation entitled, “HUD, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Mortgage Loan Opinions: Do I Really Have to Give That Opinion?” at 21st Spring Symposia of ABA Section of Real Property, Trust and Estate Law, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, May 7, 2010.

 

 

Publications

Recent Publications on General Real Estate Matters

Author, “Updated Recordation and Transfer Tax Guide is Released for Maryland” in The Daily Record, Baltimore, Maryland, December 1, 2025, at Updated recordation and transfer tax guide is released for MD.

Assisted, edited, and author of appendix to “Maryland Recordation and Transfer Tax Guide 2025” by John P. (Jack) Machen, Special Chief Solicitor of the Baltimore City Law Department.

Author, “Held up over holdover statute,” The Daily Record, Baltimore, Maryland, September 10, 2025, Held up over holdover statute - Maryland Daily Record.

Author, “Must assignments of deeds of trust in Maryland now be recorded?” in The Daily Record, Baltimore, Maryland, published electronically on May 23, 2025, at Must assignments of deeds of trust in Maryland now be recorded? and in the print edition on May 27, 2025.  Also published in Relating to Real Estate, May 2025, republished in ABA Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section Newsstand June 2, 2025.

Author, “Fourth Circuit Prohibits Collection of Payment Fee by Mortgage Loan Servicer,” published in Maryland Mortgage Bankers and Brokers Association Weekly Newsletter January 28, 2022.

Author, “Real property, recordation and transfer taxes,” published electronically in The Daily Record, Baltimore, Maryland on August 5, 2021 and in the print edition on August 6, 2021.

Author with William D. Shaughnessy, Jr., “Commercial landlords’ right to self-help,” published electronically in The Daily Record, Baltimore, Maryland on December 9, 2020 at https://thedailyrecord.com/2020/12/09/levin-and-shaughnessy-commercial-… and in the print edition on December 10, 2020.

Author, “New Acknowledgment Forms Became Effective on October 1, 2020” for Maryland Mortgage Bankers and Brokers Association, Inc. and for Maryland Bankers Association, October 5, 2020.

Author with Lisa Mohan, “Remote transactions in Md. during the pandemic,” published in The Daily Record, Baltimore, Maryland on June 16, 2020, and titled “Remote transactions in Md. during the pandemic” in the print edition on June 17, 2020.

Author, “Court holds goodwill subject to recordation, transfer taxes” published in The Daily Record, Baltimore, Maryland on September 18, 2019 and titled “Court: Goodwill is subject to recordation, transfer taxes” in the print edition on September 19, 2019.

Author, “Court: Lien of Columbia Association Declaration Does Not Have First Priority” published in The Daily Record, Baltimore, Maryland on April 17, 2019 at and titled “Bankruptcy Court: Lien of Columbia Association Declaration Does Not Have First Priority” in the print edition on April 18, 2019

Co-author with David H. Fishman, “The ‘Charming Head’ of the Rule Against Perpetuities,” published in Probate and Property, Vol. 32, Issue 4, July/August 2018, page 30.

Author “Lenders relax:  mortgages have priority over declarations,” published in The Daily Record, Baltimore, Maryland and in the print edition on September 18, 2017.

Author, “Whom Should I Represent When I am Local Counsel Giving a Real Estate Closing Opinion Letter?” Opinions Matters, the Newsletter of the ABA Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section’s Committee on Legal Opinions in Real Estate Transactions, Spring 2017, and in ABA RPTE Section’s eReport, May 2017 and July 2017. 

Author “Lenders beware:  assessments have priority over mortgages,” published in The Daily Record, Baltimore, Maryland at http://thedailyrecord.com/2016/09/19/edward-j-levin-lenders-beware-asse… and in the print edition on September 20, 2016.

Author, “Best is Not Always Best When it Comes to Knowledge” published in the Jan./Feb. 2016 issue of Probate and Property.

Author, “Reducing Recordation Taxes in the Post-IDOT Era” in the Jan./Feb. 2016 issue of BUILD Maryland Magazine, and in the May 2016 issue (vol. 6, no. 2) of The Baltimore Barrister, published by The Bar Association of Baltimore City.

Author, “A Tale of Two Inadvertent Releases” published in The Daily Record, Baltimore, Maryland.

Author, “Bills of Interest to Real Property Lawyers that were Passed by the 2015 General Assembly of Maryland,” which was published in the May 2015 issue of The Barrister, a publication of the Bar Association of Baltimore City.  

Co-author with Seth M. Rotenberg, “Rethinking the Need to Bring in a Receiver” published in The Daily Record, Baltimore, Maryland.

Author, “If a Tree Falls in Maryland, Who is Responsible?” published in The Daily Record, Baltimore, Maryland (July 24, 2014).  h

Co-author with Travis W. Dalton, “U.S. Court Strikes MERS System in Maryland, But Maryland Deeds of Trust Differ from Pennsylvania Mortgages” or “Federal court strikes MERS system in Pennsylvania” published in The Daily Record.

Author, “The Maryland-Virginia Boundary Shifts and Changes” published in The Daily Record, Baltimore, Maryland (September 24, 2014).

Author, “D.C. Condo Assessment Can Extinguish Deed of Trust” published in The Daily Record, Baltimore, Maryland (October 14, 2014).

Author, “Similar Cases, Opposite Results: Letter of Intent under Falls Garden and Cochran” published in The Daily Record, Baltimore, Maryland in the electronic edition on February 10, 2015 at http://thedailyrecord.com/2015/02/10/edward-j-levin-similar-cases-oppos… and in the print edition on February 11, 2015. Also published at Ground Rules blog.

Co-author with Robert J. Krapf of Richards, Layton & Finger, Wilmington, Delaware, An Overview of the Real Estate Finance Opinion Report of 2012, Delaware Law Review, Volume 14, Number 2 (2014).

Author, “IDOTs Still Work for Deposit Mortgages,” January/February 2014 issue of BUILDING Magazine of Maryland-National Capital Building Industry Association, Inc. (MNCBIA) http://www.mncbia.org/#bf_miniCal_260

Author, “What is an SNDA and Who Needs One?” published in The Daily Record, Baltimore, Maryland (January 17, 2014); http://thedailyrecord.com/2014/01/16/edward-j-levin-what-is-an-snda-and…

Author, “Howard County Reimburses Taxpayers $587,000 in IDOT Case,” published in The Daily Record, Baltimore, Maryland (July 31, 2013).

Author, “IDOTs Are Still Alive, Use Them for Deposit Mortgages,” published in Mid-Atlantic Builder (July/August 2013).

Author, “Maryland Changes the Rules on IDOTs and Refinancings,” published in Maryland Realtor (August/September 2013); http://www.mdrealtor.org/publications/mdrealtor%C2%AE(magazine).aspx

Author, “Lenders not liable for recordation taxes on IDOTS,” published in The Daily Record, Baltimore, Maryland (June 24, 2013).

Author, “New Law Relates to IDOTs, Refinancings,” published in The Daily Record, Baltimore, Maryland (May 20, 2013).

Author, “Maryland Changes Law Relating to IDOTs and Refinancings,” published in ABA/RPTE eReport (June, 2013).

Author, ”Change in the Amount of IDOT the Triggers Tax and Exemption from Recordation Tax for Refinance of IDOTs and More,” dated June 7, 2013 posted at Ground Rules, The Blog of the Real Property Section of the MSBA.

Author, “Supplemental Instrument Exemption Applies to Indemnity Deeds of Trust,” published in The Daily Record, Baltimore, Maryland (February 14, 2013); http://thedailyrecord.com/2013/02/13/edward-j-levin-supplemental-instru….

Author, Gordon Feinblatt Legal Bulletin entitled “Indemnity Deed of Trust (IDOT) Workgroup Issues Its Report,” January 4, 2013; also posted Martindale. 

Author, “The End of the Road for IDOTs?” published in The Daily Record, Baltimore, Maryland (May 20, 2012); http://thedailyrecord.com/2012/05/20/edward-j-levin-the-end-of-the-road….

Author, “The Beach, Bacon and Beard & Bone,” published in The Daily Record, Baltimore, Maryland (May 14, 2012).

Author, “Recent Cases Provide Guidance on Prescriptive Easements,” published in The Daily Record, Baltimore, Maryland (February 21, 2012).

Recent Presentations on Third Party Opinion Letters

Author, “Up the Ladder and Other Thoughts on Authorization Opinions” published in Opinions Matters, the Newsletter of the ABA Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section’s Committee on Legal Opinions in Real Estate Transactions, Fall 2019.

Author, “FIRRMA Affects Cross-Border Opinions,” published in Opinions Matters, the newsletter of the ABA Section of Real Property, Trust and Estate Law, Legal Opinions in Real Estate Transactions Committee, Fall 2018.

Author, “The UCC Opinions Report is Heading Your Way,” published in Opinions Matters, the newsletter of the ABA Section of Real Property, Trust and Estate Law, Legal Opinions in Real Estate Transactions Committee, Spring 2018.

Author, “The UCC Opinions Report is Heading Your Way,” published in Opinions Matters, the newsletter of the ABA Section of Real Property, Trust and Estate Law, Legal Opinions in Real Estate Transactions Committee, Spring 2018.

Author, The Real Estate Finance Opinion Report of 2012: History and Summary, Probate & Property, Vol. 27, No.1, January/February, 2013, at 52.

Author, “Government Agency Opinions,” published in ABA/RPTE eReport (December, 2012) 

Author, “Committees Release the Real Estate Finance Opinion Report of 2012,” published in ABA/RPTE eReport (December, 2012).

Author, “Committees Release the Real Estate Finance Opinion Report of 2012 (née the Annotated Real Estate Finance Opinion,” published in ABA/RPTE eReport (June, 2012) at http://www.americanbar.org/newsletter/publications/rpte_e_report_home/j….

Author, “New York Court Dismisses Lawsuit Against Law Firm That Rendered Opinion Letter in Fraudulent Transaction,” published in RPTE eReport by the ABA’s Section of Real Property, Trust & Estate Law (February, 2012).

Author, “Lessons from Fortress v. Dechert,” published in The Daily Record, Baltimore, Maryland (January 17 and 18, 2012).  Posted in Detroit Legal News on January 19, 2012.

Author, “Committee Revises 2007 Maryland Opinion Report,” Ground Rules, Section of Real Property, Planning and Zoning, Maryland State Bar Association (Fall 2009); revised version  published in ABA/RPTE:  RPTE eReport, February 2010.

Author of House Bill 188 in the Maryland General Assembly (Chapter 381 of the Laws of Maryland of 2007) which codified and amended the Rule Against Perpetuities as it relates to commercial transactions in Maryland; testified before the House and Senate Committees.
 

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Contact

elevin@gfrlaw.com
410-576-1900
410-576-1900 (fax)

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Real Estate

Education

J.D., University of Virginia, 1976
B.A., Johns Hopkins University, 1973

Court Admissions

Maryland Court of Appeals
U.S. Supreme Court

Bar Admissions

Maryland, 1976