2023 – Legal Exchange Recap

Wow! This year’s Legal Exchange was a smashing success. We decided to mix things up and create a new Legal Forum; we updated the name to Legal Exchange and boldly stepped forth to a new and exciting event.

For the Legal Exchange 2023, your RHAWA staff was able to assemble twelve housing industry attorneys to come and talk with you, our members. In previous years, the Legal Forum was just that—a panel of attorneys talking at you in an auditorium-style function. With all the amazing strides forward RHAWA has been making this year, we wanted to continue that with a fresh new take on this event.

This year, we gathered our attorneys and facilitated a small round table discussion aboard the MV Skansonia, a retired ferry boat turned event space from the 50’s. The concept behind this idea was “speed dating”! Wouldn’t it be fun if our members could have short little dates with our incredible team of attorneys?

As this was the first year, it did not come without its growing pains; and for our amazing attendees, we thank you for your patience while we found our bearings. We hoped June 13th would be a beautiful day, but perhaps we wished a little too hard! We basked in an 80-degree day on the bow of the MV (Permanently Moored Vessel) Skansonia and had a slightly smaller group than expected. Our amazing event staff was able to quickly reassess and situate everyone so they had the best experience possible.

Each of the attendees found a table and made themselves comfortable after grabbing a drink on the bow, awaiting the first bell. Illustrious Executive Director, Sean Flynn, kicked things off by explaining the format and getting everyone excited for a fun and educational evening.

You could find 10-12 attendees around each table; each table ran things in their own way, but for the most part, our tables were filled with eager and questioning housing providers looking for advice, best practices, and a sense of camaraderie in this ever-fluctuating time. While we know every single person wouldn’t have the chance to get every question answered, we hoped this format would provide a more unique, personal, and informative experience for everyone.

As our table sessions concluded at 7:00 pm, the food came rolling out shortly after. While we all enjoyed some delectable salmon and short ribs, a small panel of attorneys answered group questions from our fearless leader, Sean Flynn, about the state of the industry and what is predicted for the future.

If you were one of the lucky few that attended, we would love your feedback. This was a completely new take on the Legal Exchange format, and we want to know your thoughts.

Thank you to everyone who came, and if you have any questions from the event, about the event, or about Legal Exchange and other future events, don’t hesitate to contact me at cmoser@rhawa.org.


We would like to extend a special thank you to our sponsor, 1031 Capital Solutions, for their invaluable support in making Legal Exchange 2023 a memorable success.