LARRY KELLEM’S LEGACY
LARRY KELLEM’S LEGACY
Steve and his father Lawrence Kellem founded Kellem & Kellem in Hull, Massachusetts, in 1984, and worked together through Larry’s retirement in 2012. What started as a small hometown practice evolved into one of the South Shore’s and then eastern Massachusetts’s busiest real estate practices. A key moment in the firm evolution was when Jack Conway, an owner of several real estate brokerage offices in Eastern Massachusetts, decided to build an office in Hull where Steve and Larry were practicing. “Jack needed a tenant for his new building” remembers Steve, “and heard my dad and I were the “go-to” in Hull. Jack walked into the office and told us we were his new tenant. Within a couple of years, we were representing buyers and sellers throughout the area, and were closing counsel for Northern Mortgage Company, which Jack owned.”
When describing the legacy of his dad and how it relates to the real estate practice, Steve explains, “My dad taught me about the importance of thoroughness as a fundamental principal of real estate law. Each time property ownership changes hands, there are a multitude of details within the transfer that if not handled perfectly, can have devastating consequences. My dad showed me examples of ownership issues that didn’t reveal themselves until many years later, when a property was sold. The real estate attorney must be an excellent technician. Reviewing and certifying title to real estate is often the equivalent of completing a difficult crossword puzzle. One misplaced letter or word and the puzzle is not complete. In real estate, the misplaced letter is the missing or defective signature, which can result in a problem with ownership.”
Larry A. Kellem, 1933 - 2023
Our Offices in Hingham & Marshfield
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