MEET THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT LAW CENTER STAFF

CDLC employs four attorneys and one urban planner. CDLC’s legal staff advises tax-exempt corporations on general corporate, real estate, and employment law matters. CDLC’s urban planner assists clients with zoning issues, helps clients conduct strategic planning, and provides asset management and other training to nonprofit boards. CDLC’s staff possesses over eighty years combined experience in the fields of law and community development.

Darren Weirnick: Darren assists clients with the legal issues related to the development, operation, and transfer of affordable housing. Darren's practice focuses on tax issues related to affordable housing development and on corporate matters, including entity formation, structuring joint ventures, and corporate consolidations. He also serves as adjunct faculty for the Community Development Transactions Practicum at Lewis and Clark Law School.

Before joining the CDLC, Darren was an attorney in the tax section of Stoel Rives LLP, where he gained broad experience in the law of tax-exempt organizations, taxation of corporations and partnerships, projects involving federal tax credits, and property taxation. In addition, Darren has represented tenants in landlord-tenant disputes and volunteered for the Tenant Advocacy Project during law school. Darren also has taught philosophy and was a Teaching Fellow at Harvard College while at law school. Darren received his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 2001 and his A.B. from Duke University in 1991. Before attending law school, Darren received an M.A. and a Ph.D. in philosophy from Rice University.

Karin Guenther: Karin divides her practice at CDLC between the areas of employment law advice and affordable housing transactional work. Before she joined the CDLC, she was a corporate attorney for the law firm of Tonkon Torp, LLP for nine and a half years. During her last three years there, she was a partner, and co-chair of the firm’s Employment Law group.

Prior to joining CDLC, Karin served as an Adjunct Professor for Lewis and Clark Law School. She was also a founding board member of Oregon Lawyers Against Hunger, an organization that raises funds for the Oregon Food Bank. She currently serves as the Vice President of the Board of Directors of Outside In, a homeless youth agency in Portland. Karin received her B.A. from Stanford University and her J.D. from the University of Notre Dame Law School.

Tad Everhart: Tad focuses his practice on real estate development issues. Tad is an expert regarding the community land trust model of affordable housing development. Tad has extensive real estate development experience, which he acquired as a residential developer and general contractor for Paragon Property, Inc. As a developer, Tad built ninety homes in the Portland metropolitan area. He has also worked as a private practitioner in the fields of real estate and business law. Tad is a former prosecutor for the Multnomah, Coos, and Lane County District Attorneys' offices. Tad received a B.A. from Stanford University and his J.D. from the University of Oregon.

Nancy Murray: Nancy Murray comes to CDLC with 20 years of real estate experience. She has represented nonprofits, private developers, lenders and local governments in various real estate transactions and developments. Her work has included residential, commercial and industrial real estate development, brownfield redevelopment, as well as general corporate matters. Most recently Nancy served as Assistant General Counsel for the Port of Portland and, prior to that, as in-house counsel for Pacific Realty Associates, L.P. ("PacTrust"), a large Northwest developer. In addition to affordable housing, Nancy's interests include environmental protection and land conservation, and she has served as counsel and as a board member to several Oregon nonprofits involved with land conservation activities. Nancy served as chair of the Real Estate and Land Use Section of the Oregon State Bar Executive Committee and as co-chair of the Real Estate Legislative Committee. Nancy graduated from Wellesley College and earned her J.D. from Lewis & Clark Law School.

Leon Laptook: Leon is the Co-Director of CDLC. Leon assists clients with land use issues, and he provides strategic planning assistance to tax-exempt corporations. Leon also conducts group trainings on issues such as asset management, real estate development, and the rights and responsibilities of corporate board members. Leon gained extensive knowledge of housing development and urban planning while serving as Housing and Redevelopment Coordinator and as Planner for the City of Corvallis. Leon is the former Deputy Director and Director of Head Start for Community Action Organization of Washington County. He also worked as the organization's Housing Director. Leon received a B.A. from the State University of New York at Buffalo and an M.A. in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Oregon.