David Swedelson

David Swedelson is a “condo lawyer” and “HOA attorney,” one of California's leading community association attorneys and a founding partner of the law firm of SwedelsonGottlieb, a firm that limits its practice to the representation of California homeowner associations, including condominiums, planned developments and stock cooperatives.

David started practicing law in 1978 and began representing and providing legal counsel to community associations after serving on the board of directors of his first condominium association in the early 1980s. David has served on the board of directors of four different community associations that he has lived in, including two condominium associations and the master and sub associations of the planned development where he currently resides. David firmly believes that his experience as a board member has given him the unique ability to better understand how to work with the volunteer board members that govern the firm’s clients.

David and his partner Sandra Gottlieb formed SwedelsonGottlieb in 1987, bringing together David's extensive litigation experience and Sandra's transactional background. His broad experience in representing California community associations allows him to not only provide legal representation, but also to counsel the firm’s clients on the many different matters and issues that impact California condominium and homeowner associations. With regard to his expertise David has said, "Because of my and our firm’s many years of experience representing hundreds of California community associations, I feel that I am truly a counselor at law helping my clients deal with issues relating to covenant and rule enforcement, vendor and contractor disputes, maintenance and repair issues, fair housing, developer transition and defect issues, and the many other issues and problems that impact community associations."

In addition to providing legal counsel, David also oversees the litigation team at Swedelson & Gottlieb. David has litigated hundreds of lawsuits ranging from architectural violations, pet issues, hard surface flooring disputes, discrimination and fair housing complaints, assessment collection, contractor and vendor contract disputes, and construction defects, to name some of the many areas of litigation in which David provides representation.

David has been very involved in the community association industry, having served on the board of directors of the Greater Los Angeles and Channel Islands Chapters of the Community Associations Institute (CAI), as president of the Greater Los Angeles Chapter, and for many years as a delegate for the Channel Islands Chapter on the California Legislative Action Committee (CLAC). David has also served on the Executive Committee of CLAC and on the attorneys committee for the national chapter of CAI.

David has been a frequent speaker at education programs for the Greater Los Angeles, Channel Islands, Orange County Regional, San Diego, Bay Area & Central and Greater Inland Empire Chapters of CAI, as well as for the California Association of Community Managers (CACM), the Executive Counsel of Home Owners (ECHO), and realtors groups and other trade organizations. He has also contributed or authored numerous articles for various chapters of CAI, as well as for CACM and ECHO.

David has also been designated as an expert witness, where he has testified at trial on matters relating to community association law.

David is also the firm partner in charge of content for hoalawblog.com. Find out more about David and SwedelsonGottlieb at the firms website: lawforhoas.com