In 1970, as newlyweds, Mark Pearlstein and his wife Lynn purchased their first condominium in Northbrook, Illinois. It did not go as planned when the developer suddenly filed for bankruptcy. Due to the uncertainty of his new purchase, Mark volunteered to be the president of his condominium association board, which, unknown to him at the time, set his career trajectory.
was a career that spanned more than three decades, set the bar for legal representation of community associations in Illinois, and was filled with leadership and innovation in the development of community association legislation and law.
His
Mark received his law degree from the DePaul University College of Law in 1974, and in 1975, he was admitted to the Illinois bar. He began his legal career as a prosecutor, and after a few years left for a corporate law position in private practice. However in the years that followed, he found himself exclusively representing community associations, a then-burgeoning area of the law. In 1999, through a merger of two successful law firms, Mark became a founding member of Levenfeld Pearlstein, LLC.
Mark’s clients, colleagues and competitors referred to him as a consummate professional, a gentleman’s attorney, and although he would never admit it, an innovator in his profession. As one of the first lawyers to exclusively practice in the niche area of community association law, he was a pioneer. And, like the great pioneers of any industry, he blazed the path that others followed.
Sadly, Mark passed away much too soon, in 2012.
Throughout Mark’s legal career, the zealous representation of his association clients was of paramount importance to him, and his leadership to the industry and promotion of legislation was exemplary. Mark earned much recognition for his contributions to the legal community and community association law in particular.
He served as the chairman of the Illinois Legislative Action Committee of Community Association Institute (“CAI”) and in leadership roles on committees with other trade organizations and the Chicago Bar Association Condominium Subcommittee. He routinely testified in Springfield in front of the Illinois Legislature on proposals and was a trusted advisor for many Illinois legislators who over the years sought his advice and opinions on prospective legislation.
He served on the City of Chicago Condominium Task
Force and counseled the Chicago City Council on several occasions. In 2008, he was bestowed the Premier Leadership Award for the Illinois Chapter of the Institute of Real Estate Management. Mark also was named an Illinois Leading Lawyer and Illinois Super Lawyer multiple times.
In the legislative realm, he and fellow industry colleagues set out in 2004 to begin drafting a new Illinois statute that would regulate and require education and licensing of property managers. It took six years to draft and promote this legislation, and in 2010, the Community Association Manager Licensing Act was adopted into law. It was Mark’s proudest moment as an attorney. The law was a great accomplishment, and Mark thought it brought a long-overdue requirement of education, accountability
and professionalism to the industry.
And Mark was certainly a man who was serious about education and professionalism. To many, Mark was the consummate teacher.
He regularly presented at legal
and non-legal seminars on community association law and authored many articles. His contributions were well- noted and respected by CAI as well. He was elected to the inaugural class of CAI’s prestigious College of Community Association lawyers (as of 2012, he was one of 150 members nationwide of the Institute’s College), and in 2009, he was honored by CAI with its national Award of Excellence in Government and Public Affairs.
In 1988, Mark penned his first Condor Adviser column to educate the public on condominium issues, which appeared as a regular column in the Chicago Tribune’s Real Estate section of the Sunday paper. He would write it for the next 24 years and gain a significant following due to his honest and insightful advice dispensed to property owners and managers alike.
“Mark firmly believed everyone who lives in, or works with, a community association should understand the rights and obligations that community associations possess,” said Levenfeld Pearlstein partner Howard Dakoff, who took over the Condo Adviser column after Mark’s passing. “He
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