Hirzel Law, PLC

Who the firm works for

Community associations are the whole of this client base. Hirzel Law, PLC represents condominium and homeowners associations across Michigan and Illinois. The firm works for the associations themselves, the boards and governing bodies that run shared residential and mixed-use communities. The site's footer makes the client scope explicit: the firm acts for associations and not for individual homeowners or unit owners.

That focus shapes the rest of the firm's work. Community association law brings together real estate, contract and governance questions, and it runs on documents: recorded declarations, bylaws, and the rules a board adopts. Shared communities generate a steady stream of legal questions about dues, upkeep and what owners may change. A firm that takes only association clients works from the board's side of the table on all of it.

The two-state focus matters for how associations pick counsel. Michigan and Illinois each have their own condominium and community association statutes, and the rules on assessments, meetings and elections differ between them. A firm that practices in both states carries two sets of statutes in its working knowledge. Hirzel Law names Michigan and Illinois consistently across its pages as the ground it covers.

What the practice areas cover

The firm lists nine practice areas, and they line up with the questions a board tends to bring to a lawyer. Bylaw enforcement is the work of holding owners to the recorded rules, which for a board usually runs through written notices, hearings and, where the documents allow, fines. Governance and meetings covers how a board itself operates: quorum, notice, voting and the minutes that record what was decided. Both states set rules on how association meetings must be called, so this area often overlaps with statute.

Money and disputes make up the next group. Condo and HOA collections handle unpaid assessments, the dues that fund shared maintenance, and such matters often move through payment demands and, if needed, liens against a unit. Condo and HOA litigation covers association disputes that reach court, such as rule challenges and claims between an association and an owner or vendor.

Construction, amendments and fair housing

Three areas track how a community gets built and handed over. Construction defect work addresses faults in the building itself, and these cases usually turn on expert inspection and on filing within the state's limitation period. Developer turnover is the point where the developer hands control of an association to the owners, a stage that involves reviewing budgets, records and reserve studies. Document amendments cover changes to the declaration and bylaws, which generally need a set percentage of owners to approve and a recording step to take effect.

Fair housing and real estate work complete the list. Fair housing matters often involve reasonable accommodation requests and the federal rules that govern them, a recurring issue for boards that set community policies. The real estate practice is aimed at developers, commercial investors and banking institutions, so Hirzel Law also handles property transactions and financing beyond day-to-day association governance.

How the team is built

The team page lists 19 attorneys and 12 support staff, a large group for a firm working in one field of law. The attorney titles run through Managing Member, Member, Of Counsel, Senior Attorney and Associate Attorney, a set of defined seniority tiers. Kevin M. Hirzel is the Managing Member. Kayleigh B. Long holds a Member title along with the role of Director of Legal Operations, which points to someone responsible for how the firm runs its files.

The members listed alongside Hirzel include Matthew W. Heron, Brandan Hallaq and Chantelle Neumann. The senior attorneys include Nickolas Butris, Tracy Danner-Bond, Brian Feldman, Livia Khemmoro and Michael Pereira. Ihsan Abdulghani and Erika DiLoreto are listed as associate attorneys. The Of Counsel title, also on the list, usually marks an experienced lawyer who works with the firm on selected matters. Behind the attorneys, 12 support staff handle the scheduling, filing and client contact that keep matters moving.

A tiered structure like this usually spreads work by complexity, with members running harder matters and associates carrying research and routine filings. For an association client, the range of titles means a matter can be staffed at a level that fits its size. As a reviewer, I read the depth of the team page as one of the clearer facts on the site, since it names people and roles in full.

What the credentials show

Two of the firm's attorneys, Kevin Hirzel and Matthew Heron, are Fellows of the College of Community Association Lawyers. The site describes this as a distinction held by fewer than 200 attorneys nationwide. The College admits lawyers who have worked extensively in community association law, so the fellowship marks long work in the exact field the firm practices. Having two Fellows in one firm is uncommon, given how few the College names.

Kevin Hirzel has appeared in national media on condominium and homeowners association issues, and the site names CBS, CNBC, Fox News, Fox Business, NPR and the Wall Street Journal. Appearances like these usually follow from newsrooms treating a lawyer as a reliable source on a subject. The media list and the fellowship point the same way: the firm's public profile is built around association law and the people who lead it.

Courts, offices and published work

The firm's attorneys are admitted in the State Bar of Michigan and the State Bar of Illinois, the two states where Hirzel Law keeps offices. Their admissions also list the US Supreme Court, the Sixth and Seventh Circuits, several federal district courts, and the US Tax Court. That range means the firm can take a matter into federal appeals as well as state and trial court, and the US Tax Court admission lets its attorneys appear on federal tax matters.

Hirzel Law has five offices, all by appointment only. The headquarters is in Farmington, Michigan, with further Michigan offices in Grand Rapids and Traverse City. The Illinois offices are in Chicago and Skokie. Spreading five offices across two states puts the firm near associations in the Detroit area, western and northern Michigan, and the Chicago area. Appointment-only access fits a firm whose clients are boards and committees, since those meetings are usually set in advance.

The firm also publishes written material on the law it practices. In my opinion, that published work is a useful signal of where a firm puts its attention, since keeping current guides takes ongoing effort. Hirzel Law keeps blogs on Michigan and Illinois community association law, and it maintains a handbook for each of the two states.