Partner Stephanie J. Hayes joined Berding & Weil LLP and its corporate department in 1995. Since joining Berding & Weil LLP, Ms. Hayes has represented homeowners associations and other clients in a wide variety of corporate and real estate matters, and loan transactions. She has assisted clients in obtaining conventional and governmental financing to meet their needs.

The majority of Ms. Hayes’ practice involves advising boards of directors and managers of senior housing communities on the varied and unique issues affecting their developments. That work includes drafting, amending and interpreting governing documents and policies, as well as interfacing with governmental agencies. She represents a number of large senior communities throughout the bay area where she provides legal advice and assistance on day-to-day operational issues.

Before joining Berding & Weil, Ms. Hayes spent fourteen years representing for-profit and non-profit corporations in the types of legal transactions and issues that boards and managers often confront. She has worked with many diverse clients, ranging from boards of directors of Fortune 500 companies to grassroots, community-based organizations. Her background also includes representation of lenders, purchasers and governmental agencies in structuring and financing commercial and multi-family residential real estate developments.

Ms. Hayes is licensed to practice law in the states of California and Illinois as well as before several federal courts in California, Illinois and Wisconsin. She is a member of the American Bar Association (ABA) and the ABA Section of Real Property, Probate & Trust Law, where she sits on the Senior Housing and Assisted Living Committee. She is also a member of the State Bar of California Real Property Law Section and Business Law Section.

Ms. Hayes serves on the East Bay Resource Panel and Legal Resource Panel of the Executive Council of Home Owners (ECHO). She is a frequent speaker before community association industry groups, including ECHO and the Community Associations Institute (CAI).

Ms. Hayes received her Juris Doctor, with distinction, in 1981 from John Marshall Law School in Illinois and her Bachelor of Arts degree, with honors, in Political Science from the University of Illinois in Chicago. As an undergraduate, she was named an Edmund J. James Scholar and an Illinois State Scholar and, at John Marshall, she served as a member of the school's Law Review.