Biography
Brady Ortego understands that a home may be the most significant asset in a person’s life. Guiding community association board members, managers, and even community members through the highly specialized and ever changing area of the law requires a lawyer to be accessible, responsive, and dedicated. Brady serves a variety of property owners associations including master-planned, condominium (hi-rise, mid-rise, and conversions), townhome, commercial, and single-family communities. Brady also works with real estate developers in relation to the creation of communities and community associations. Brady’s real estate experience also includes easement negotiations, imminent domain/condemnation negotiations, lending, and landlord representation in commercial lease disputes.
His Board Certifications in Residential Real Estate Law and Property Owners Association Law exemplify Brady’s dedication to the law and service of Texas communities. Brady is a multi-chapter member of Community Associations Institute (CAI) and serves as a board member for the San Antonio chapter of CAI. He serves as a Co-Chair of the Education Committee for his local San Antonio Chapter of CAI, and formerly chaired the Legislative Committee. He has received a professional designation from CAI as a Certified Manager of Community Associations (CMCA), armed with a better understanding of the depth of knowledge required to manage community associations. Brady’s dedication extends to monitoring and shaping legislation affecting community associations serving CAI’s Texas Legislative Action Committee and as a past board member of the Texas Community Association Advocates.
In 2017, Brady was admitted as a Fellow of the College of Community Association Lawyers. This is a group of fewer than 200 attorneys across the United States, who have demonstrated skill, experience, and high standards of professional and ethical conduct in the practice of community association law, and who are dedicated to excellence in the specialized practice of community association law.
As his career expands, Brady continues to focus on education. He regularly speaks at CAI events and has written numerous articles that were published in all four Texas CAI chapters. He uses his experience to educate his fellow attorneys on community association law issues. He has presented at the Texas State Bar’s 2015 Advanced Real Estate Drafting Course, the Advanced Real Estate Law Courses in 2017 and 2018, and the Advanced Real Estate Strategies Courses in 2018 and 2019. Brady wrote the Property Owners’ Association Chapter in the State Bar of Texas’ Foreclosure Manual.
Representative Experience
- Assisted clients with preparation of governing documents to ensure compliance with state and federal law
- Served as general counsel to residential property owners associations in all aspects of corporate governance
- Guided an association with a high level of accounts receivables related to unpaid assessments through a client-specific collection strategy that resulted in a dramatic increase in the collection of unpaid assessments
- Represented condominium association with navigating and overcoming unfounded social media character attacks and attempts to overthrow board members
- Drafted and marketed to the owners in a community an update to the declaration of covenants and restrictions that helped preserve the look of the community while allowing flexibility for major renovations to the aging homes in the community
- Assisted rural Texas Hill Country associations with updating governing documents to be consistent with current law and provided guidance to the community on the significance of the amendments
- Guided a board of directors and the community’s membership through a dispute centered on updates to legislation and how certain improvements such as solar panels, flagpoles, rainwater harvesting devices, and religious items were to be regulated in the community
- Provided labor and employment guidance to a high-rise condominium and master-planned community with 20+ employees including maintenance, security, management, and housekeeping/concierge personnel
- Provided corporate and risk management advice to a 200,000-acre recreation-oriented community with cabins, café, gift shop, swimming pool, airstrips, and extensive road network
- Represented high rise condominium in the transition from self-management to professional management, including contract review and negotiation
- Counseled a large-scale resort-style gated community through collections strategies and navigation of significant water issues, as well as negotiations with the local utility districts regarding private street maintenance, treatment of wastewater, and recycling of the effluent to maintain the golf course to effectuate the preservation of water
- Developed and implemented the HOA Knowledge Series for the City of Cibilo, TX to help educate local HOA board members
- Advised multiple community association clients on best practices related to legislative and statutory changes in Texas
- Assisted high rise condominium and single-family homeowners association clients in mitigating risk associated with governance issues
- Advised multiple high rise condominium clients on regulatory changes related to deferred maintenance
- Advise clients on Fair Housing Act reasonable accommodation/modification requirements for Assistance Animals, including domestic, farm, and wild animals
- Represent homeowners associations in conflict resolution, crisis management, and dealing with difficult personalities
- Advise clients on architectural review, compliance, and resolution of disputes between associations and homeowners
- Assisted clients with preparation of governing documents in order to ensure compliance with state and federal
Education
- J.D. South Texas College of Law Houston
- B.S. Stephen F. Austin State University
Memberships
- State Bar of Texas
- United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas
Achievements
- The Best Lawyers in America®, Community Association Law (2022-Present)
- CAI San Antonio, Chapter President-Elect (2023), Education Committee Co-Chair (2022-2023), Legislative Committee Chair (2022-2023)
- Delegate, Texas Legislative Action Committee (2023)
- Best San Antonio Lawyers, San Antonio Scene Magazine (2019-2023)
- CAI San Antonio Business Partner of the Year (2020)
- CAI San Antonio President’s Award (2018)
- CAI San Antonio Business Partner of the Year Runner-Up (2018)
- Fellow, College of Community Association Lawyers (2017)
- Professionals on the Fast Track, H Texas Magazine (2009)
- Top Young Lawyers in Texas, Thomson Reuters Super Lawyers “Rising Stars” (2008)
- Highest Grade Awards, South Texas College of Law (Civil Procedure and Contracts II)
Speaking Engagements
- “Strategies for a Successful Transition from Developer to Owners, Advanced Real Estate Strategies” – 2019 State Bar of Texas
- “Property Owners Association Law 2018 Selected Issues, Advanced Real Estate Strategies” – 2018 State Bar of Texas
- “Social Media and Property Owners Associations” – 2018 Advanced Real Estate Seminar, State Bar of Texas
- “Property Owners Association Foreclosures” – 2017 Advanced Real Estate Seminar, State Bar of Texas
Press Releases