Comprehensive Title Insurance Program for Attorneys: Key fundamentals, search techniques, examination process, and strategies for resolving description issues (Including 1 hour of Ethics)

Joseph C. Rust | Kesler Rust

Joseph C. Rust co-founded the law firm of Kesler & Rust in 1980 and has practiced law for 55 years. He earned his B.A. (1966) and his J.D. (1968) from the University of Utah, where he graduated Order of the Coif and was on the Utah Law Review. He started his practice of law with the firm of Kirton & McConkie. From 1970 to 1974 he was European Area counsel for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Frankfurt, Germany.

Mr. Rust has extensive experience in all aspects of real property law, including zoning and development issues, construction law, commercial litigation, personal injury and products liability litigation, real property/business acquisitions and sales. He also has extensive international law experience.

Mr. Rust has successfully handled many cases at the city, county, district court and appeal court level concerning zoning and conditional use permits, including the case of AGC v. Board of Oil, Gas and Mining, 38 P.3d 291 (Utah 2001), Larson Limestone Co. v. State, Div. of Oil, Gas and Min., 903 P.2d 429 (Utah 1995), and Blackburn v. Washington City, 101 P.3d 391 (Ut Ct App 2004). Mr. Rust has been involved with over 50 appeals, including appeals to the Utah Court of Appeals, the Utah Supreme Court, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals and two cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Mr. Rust has served as a mediator and arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association and is a mediator with Utah ADR Services. He has served on many Utah State Bar Committees, including being the Chairman twice of the International Law Section of the Utah Bar. He served from 2004 to 2017 as a member of the Governmental Affairs Committee of the Bar. From 1985 to 1992 he served as Vice-Chairman and from 1993 to 1996 he served as Chairman of the Committee on Civil Procedure in the Section of General Practice of the International Bar Association (the largest association of lawyers in the world). He has served on the Board of Advisors of the International and Comparative Law Center of the Southwestern Legal Foundation. He served as the Chairman of the Utah District Export Council and was a member of that body for over 35 years. Mr. Rust served on the board of directors of the Utah Chapter of the Construction Financial Management Association from 1992 to 2013. He has served as President of the Utah chapter of the World Trade Association and as chairman of the Legal Advisory Committee of the Associated General Contractors.

Mr. Rust is admitted to practice in all Utah state and federal courts, the U.S. Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Mr. Rust has published many articles on the subjects of real property and international law. Among those articles is “The Condemnor’s Liability for Damages Arising Through Instituting, Litigating, or Abandoning Eminent Domain Proceedings,” 1967 Utah Law Review 548, cited by the Utah Supreme Court in Utah State Road Com’n v. Friberg, 687 P.2d 821, 830 (Utah 1984). Mr. Rust has taught numerous CLE classes concerning real estate law.

Mr. Rust is fluent in German and has a reading knowledge of Czech and French .

Brad L.F. Hoeschen | Old Republic National Title Insurance Company

Brad Hoeschen is the North Central Division Agency Manager and Underwriting Counsel for Old Republic National Title Insurance Co. He manages Old Republic Title’s agency network in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Brad is the immediate past-president of the Wisconsin Land Title Association and served for 5 years as co-chair the Legislative Committee. He was also the initial drafter of Wisconsin’s Remote Online Notary statute.

Before joining Old Republic Title, Brad worked in private practice handling litigation defending title insurance companies and agents. He also worked in transactional practice, assisting individuals and corporations in acquiring real property.

Brad served as Vice Chair of the Milwaukee Administrative Review Board Appeals for 5 years and previously served on the City of Milwaukee Historic Preservation Commission. He also served as a Chief Election Inspector for the City of Milwaukee for 15 years and currently serves as an Election Judge for the City of Minneapolis.

Brad is a graduate of Marquette University Law School and Loyola University-New Orleans. He has served as adjunct faculty at Marquette University Law School and teaches extensively on areas of real estate law. Prior to law school, Brad was a print and broadcast journalist in Milwaukee and New Orleans.

Session I – Understanding Title Insurance: Issues and expert solutions | 12:00pm – 1:00pm

• Fundamentals of Title Insurance | 12:00pm – 12:20pm
  • What Is Title Insurance?
  • Types of Title Insurance Policies
  • Common Title Issues and Challenges
• The Title Search and Examination Process | 12:20pm – 12:40pm
  • Conducting a Thorough Title Search
  • Identifying Potential Title Issues
  • Evaluating the Chain of Title
• Understanding and resolving legal description issues | 12:40pm – 1:00pm
  • Understanding legal descriptions generally
  • What are common legal description problems?
  • How to resolve legal description problems.

Break | 1:00pm – 1:10pm

Session II – Comparative Ethical Obligations of Title Employees, Realtors, and Attorneys | 1:10pm – 2:10pm

• Ethical standards for Attorneys, Realtors, and Title Agents | 1:10pm – 1:25pm
• Response strategies for attorneys to issues with professionals with different or no licensing | 1:25pm – 1:40pm
• Impact of ethical differences in each profession on real estate transactions | 1:40pm – 1:55pm
• Creating an understanding of ethical standards in real estate transactions | 1:55pm – 2:10pm