Practice Areas
During the past 15 years, the focus of Mr. Sproul's law practice has been on real estate development, land use planning and the unique legal issues and problems facing common interest developments, master planned communities, mixed use developments, and resort developments. Much of this practice has been concentrated in the area of residential and commercial common interest real estate developments.
In representing developers, Mr. Sproul has been active in all aspects of the planning and development process including appearances before planning commissions, city councils and boards of supervisors regarding land use issues, site development problems and special district formation. Mr. Sproul has also negotiated development agreements and has extensive experience in representing residential real estate developer clients before the California Department of Real Estate in connection with the preparation of common interest governing documents, subsidy agreements, and other matters related to applications for subdivision public reports. As Mr. Sproul's practice has evolved, his focus has shifted to master planned communities and resort/recreation common interest developments which often include golf courses, ski areas, commercial spaces, interval ownership programs, and conventional common interest planned developments and condominium projects.
In the context of mature, post-developer, planned developments, Mr. Sproul has counseled boards of directors of community associations with respect to complex reorganizations, including comprehensive revisions of the original plan of development to respond to critical development problems not anticipated by the project developer (such as the failure of on-site waste disposal systems and the effective integration of neighboring CIDs when annexation rights have expired), the merger of multiple community associations within a single development and the creation of community services districts to provide an alternate means of financing and administering local community functions. Finally, Mr. Sproul has represented planned developments when conflicts have arisen with local and State government agencies involving the competing demands of the private development and obligations under development agreements relating to public access, open space and wetlands preservation.
Mr. Sproul has remained active in monitoring and proposing legislation of interest to nonprofit and common interest development clients, and, in 1991, Mr. Sproul served as chairman of the State Bar Committee on Nonprofit Corporations.
In addition to the many nonprofit mutual benefit corporations that Mr. Sproul represents, his clients include a number of local and national charities which are classified as public benefit corporations, including the United Way of California, the United Way Sacramento Region, the Foundation of the State Bar of California, the California Musical Theatre, Capitol Public Radio and the California Urban Water Conservation Council. Services to these clients include general corporate counseling, employment law matters, tax exemption issues, tax-exempt bond financing, litigation services, corporate reorganizations and Attorney General regulatory matters.
Mr. Sproul has been a frequent lecturer for the Continuing Education of the Bar in the fields of real property law, nonprofit corporation law, political law, corporate organization and tax planning, and limited partnership law. Mr. Sproul has also spoken on numerous occasions before various trade association groups representing real estate developers, land planners, homeowner associations, realtors, and related organizations, including the Community Associations Institute (both national seminars and local chapters), the California Building Industry Association, the California Association of Community Managers, the State Bar Real Property Law Section and the Sacramento County Bar Real Property and Business Law Sections.
Education
Undergraduate: University of California at Berkeley (Honors, A.B., 1970)
Law School: University of California, Boalt Hall School of Law (J.D., 1973)
Legal Experience
Sproul Trost LLP, Roseville 2005-present
Weintraub Genshlea Chediak Sproul, Sacramento 1978‑2005
Downey Brand Seymour & Rohwer, Sacramento 1976-1978
Morrison & Foerster, San Francisco 1973-1976
Legal Publications and Committee Memberships
Co-author, (with Prof. Katharine Rosenberry), Advising California Common Interest Communities, C.E.B. (1991; republished in 2003).
Consulting Attorney, California Condominium and Planned Development Practice, C.E.B. (1984)
Co-author, Advising California Nonprofit Corporations, C.E.B. (1981) (Mr. Sproul wrote the chapters of this book that discuss the duties, responsibilities, and liability protections of directors and officers of nonprofit organizations and the rights and obligations of members of such organizations).
Co‑author, Common Interest Communities; Private Governments and the Public Interest, US Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies Press (1994)
Current National, State and Local Professional Affiliations
Member, American College of Real Estate Lawyers (ACREL)
California State Bar Real Property Law Section Committee on Condominiums and Planned Developments 1985-Present; Chairperson, 1985-1986; Nor. CA Chair currently
California Legislative Task Force On Common Interest Real Estate Law Revision
Recent Presentations And Seminars:
SB 800 Changes to Construction Defect Law and the effect on Single Family Developments. Multiple presentations in the Greater Northern California Area (2005)
AB 758: Changing the World of Indemnity: Presentation at various round table events and in-house seminars for clients (2005)
Continuing Education of the Bar: “Real Estate Law and Disputes;” with special analysis on CEQA exemptions and asbestos claims (2005)