Stephen Hessler
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PRACTICE FOCUS
Stephen Hessler’s practice consists primarily of real estate litigation before the D.C. Courts and administrative agencies, in cases running the gamut from lease disputes involving termination, default and options, purchase and sale agreements, tenant rights of first refusal, issues under the Rental Housing Act, plea of title, tax sales, governmental forfeiture proceedings, nuisance cases, easement disputes, specific performance and family and ownership disputes. He advises owners and managers, lenders and trustees and personal representatives of residential and commercial property with respect to local regulatory and statutory requirements for real estate ownership, management and sale. Stephen has substantial experience and success before the local Courts and the D.C. Court of Appeals.
In his first-year Real Property Class at The George Washington University National Law Center in 1972, Stephen became infatuated with feudal property principles, black acres and peppercorns. As a Law Clerk at Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation and other specialty firms focused on secondary mortgage market and real property development issues, he found his calling in real estate practice. After several years, right out of law school with Herman Miller, the then “Dean” of Landlord Tenant Court, he opened his own boutique litigation practice in 1979, until his affiliation with Offit Kurman in 2017. Stephen grew up in Pennsylvania, attended Mulenberg College and then George Washington University. He continues to specialize in the mundane, the interesting and sometimes the absurd.
RECOGNITIONS
- National Institute of Trial Advocacy (University of Pennsylvania)
- Certification from National Board of Trial Advocacy
- Voting Delegate, D.C. Judicial Conference
- Best Lawyers in America, Real Estate Law, 2023-2024
SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
- Presenter, “Digging In,” D.C. Bar Real Estate CLE program, 2001-2020
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