Associate Attorney

Groma is blending real estate and technology to unlock a new real estate asset class while making it easier for everyone, from institutional investors to the residents in our buildings, to participate in ownership. Our property technology platform uses AI to bring new efficiencies to the small unit count multifamily sector, enabling us to efficiently acquire, upgrade, and operate these 2-20 unit multifamily buildings and bring institutional performance to this massive but historically overlooked sector. Our investor technology platform makes owning these assets accessible to a broad array of investors, with bespoke vehicles available to institutional and family office investors and our flagship vehicle, the blockchain-powered GromaREIT, available to everyone, with a special focus on enabling ownership for the residents in our buildings. Visit www.groma.com to learn more about us.

About the Role

We are seeking an associate attorney with a minimum of two years of real estate law experience to join our Massachusetts-based team. This role will work closely with the acquisition team and other departments to manage the legal aspects of acquiring, financing, renovating, and operating properties for our real estate funds, while also leaning in and supporting the legal team on all areas of the operations of both the properties and the company. Reporting directly to the Chief Legal & Financial Officer, you will contribute to the growth of our real estate operations in a fast-paced, collaborative start-up environment.

Responsibilities

• Focus on real estate acquisition and conveyancing transactions, including negotiating and drafting purchase and sale agreements, title and survey, due diligence, working with seller's counsel, lenders, title agents, brokers, and other parties to ensure smooth closings across a high volume of multifamily property deals
• Structure and execute real estate financings in connection with acquisitions and recapitalizations, including drafting and negotiating loan documents, intercreditor agreements, security instruments, and related documents
• Provide legal guidance on zoning, land use, permitting, and environmental compliance as it relates to both existing assets and new acquisitions
• Support renovation and value-add strategies by advising on contractor agreements, insurance requirements, and legal risk mitigation related to property upgrades
• Support landlord-tenant legal matters, including drafting and reviewing residential and commercial leases, advising on lease compliance, renewals, and rent escalations, and addressing tenant disputes in coordination with property management teams
• Provide legal support for operational issues arising at the property level, including evictions, fair housing compliance, and tenant communications, and willingness to learn and lean in on landlord-tenant litigation matters (including NTQs, evictions, compliance issues, etc.)
• Support broader legal and strategic initiatives, including: fund formation, structuring, and ongoing legal compliance; corporate governance and entity management; and general legal matters for operating companies and affiliated entities
• Collaborate cross-functionally to ensure legal alignment across acquisitions, asset management, accounting and finance, investor relations, and the broader company

Curious about the industry

• Interested to learn about blockchain and MURs and emerging real estate and trends in this evolving space
• Explore new opportunities, tools, and styles and stay current on best practices
• Curious to learn the real estate market and blockchain technology; understanding business requirements and constraints

Qualifications

• J.D. from an accredited law school
• Active membership in the Massachusetts Bar
• Experience in real estate law - particularly in conveyancing, financing, or land use planning - is a plus
• Strong analytical, research, and writing skills
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Proven ability to handle complex legal matters and provide sound legal advice
• Strong organizational and time-management skills with the ability to handle a busy workload
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team
• Commitment to professionalism, integrity, and ethical practice

As this position is open to recent law school graduates, academic transcripts may be requested during the application process.

About our Culture

At Groma, we're looking to build something big and are on a fast growth trajectory. While a healthy work-life balance is important to our team, we want to be upfront that there may be times when we expect commitments outside of the standard 9-5. We strive to respect individuals and their needs while also acknowledging the reality that we have a small team that is trying to accomplish some very ambitious goals in a short time period.

We are also focused on maintaining our dynamic in-office culture at Groma's headquarters in beautiful downtown Boston, Massachusetts. We believe that in-person collaboration and spontaneous interpersonal interaction is critical to the company's success at this stage. Also, our office is great. We own the whole building and have made it very much our own space. We've got a gym, shower/locker rooms, a game room, a rooftop garden, and all the normal stuff to make an office a comfortable work environment and a fun place to be. We understand that everyone will need flexibility from time to time, but want to be transparent with this expectation.

We have an ever-evolving list of values and conventions that guide how we operate as a company, but here are some of our core ones:

• We approach our work with pragmatic idealism that enables us to focus on our desire to make the world a better place in ways big and small while also being open to intelligent compromises that accelerate us on our path to serve our broader societal goals.
• Our whole team believes strongly that the challenges we are trying to solve require effective teams, not individual heroes.
• We have complex conversations well. We sit at the intersection of housing and blockchain policy, both nuanced topics with real-world impacts. We pride ourselves on being thoughtful, seeking the best solutions to real-world challenges, and implementing them effectively in the real world.

Job Benefits

• Competitive salary for the Boston area
• Early stage equity in a quickly growing startup
• 5% 401k match
• Fully covered high-quality health and dental insurance plans
• Fully covered commuter passes for bus, subway, boat, or commuter rail
• Unlimited PTO
• 13 official company holidays
• 1 floating holiday: We recognize that there are lots of holidays that are meaningful to different people in different ways and we want to celebrate that by enabling team members to have the time/space to commemorate those days however is appropriate, and using it as an opportunity - if they'd like to - to share the meaning of that day with the broader team
• A beautiful office in downtown Boston with a gym, locker rooms, game room, rooftop garden, and several catered lunches a week