HARRISON, BENIS & SPENCE, LLP
ATTORNEYS AT LAW
Christopher T. Benis
- University of Washington School of Law (J.D. 1988)
- University of Washington, Department of Architecture and Urban Planning (M.U.P. 1989)
- University of Washington (B.A., Political Science, 1984)
- Washington State (1988)
- United States District Court, Western District of Washington (1989)
- United States, Ninth Circuit (1992)
- Business Transactions
- Construction Law
- Entity Formation, Maintenance and Dissolution
- Financial Planning and Investment
- Real Property Investment and Management
- Real Estate Disputes
- Residential and Commercial Landlord-Tenant
- King County Bar Association
- Washington State Bar Association
- Christopher T. Benis is a partner with the law firm of HARRISON, BENIS & SPENCE, LLP, with offices in Seattle, WA.
Mr. Benis attended the University of Washington, where he received a B.A. in Political Science, a Master of Urban Planning
and J.D. from its School of Law. He represents property management firms, individual real estate investors, real
estate brokerages, industry trade associations, design professionals, and construction companies.
- Chris is a regular speaker and author on topics related to property management. Chris currently serves as Legal
Counsel for the Rental Housing Association of Puget Sound (RHAPS) and is a past-President of the organization.
He is currently on RHAPS’ Executive Committee.
- He has spoken at TRENDS (the Washington state rental housing management convention) since 1994 and authors a monthly
property management column in the RHAPS UPDATE and a quarterly column in the Washington Realtor News. He teaches
the 30 clock hour Real Estate Law class at the Rockwell Institute in Bellevue monthly, has served on the continuing
education faculty of John L. Scott Real Estate, is a regular presenter to the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM)
and the National Association of Residential Property Managers (NARPM), and is a regular speaker throughout Washington state
on Real Estate, Brokerage, Property Management and Crime Free Housing topics.
- Chris draws the majority of his clientele from the real estate industry. He represents real estate brokerages,
individual investors, property management companies, contractors, design professionals, commercial tenants, financial
institutions and homeowners. We assist our clients with the acquisition of investment property, selection and
formation of entities such as LLCs, assist with transactional issues and preparation of financing documents, provide
documentation associated with property development (CCRs, easement agreements, etc…), and provide significant support with
management issues (development of lease forms, employee issues, etc…). We are also experienced in all manner of real
estate disputes (such as construction defects, seller disclosure matters, condemnation, land use, zoning, boundary line
disputes, etc…).
- Chris builds on his personal experience as a “second generation” real estate investor to advise his clients on practical and understandable solutions to their legal needs and concerns.