With the mercury hitting record highs this week, I look out my office window and dream of jumping into a nice cool pool. As a community association attorney, my brain automatically shifts from recreation to work mode. I recently helped a client update their community pool rules and thought this would be a good opportunity to highlight potential pitfalls for associations attempting to regulate summer time activities. read more

In part one of our three-part series on Tree Trouble, my colleague David Silver wrote about Timber Trespass. In this post, I'm going to discuss self-help. Self-help is the legal term that describes "taking the law into your own hands"—literally. In this context, it would include a property owner getting out their pruning shears or shovel and cutting or trimming parts of a neighbor's tree that infringe upon his or her property. You may be surprised to hear that in Washington, such conduct has been endorsed by the courts. read more