skip to main content
Christine F. Li
x
x

Chris concentrates her real estate practice on condominiums, planned real estate developments, and community associations. She is a primary resource for assisting residential and commercial developers with compliance matters related to New Jersey’s Planned Real Estate Development Full Disclosure Act (PREDFDA).

Chris handles all aspects of project registration with the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA) on behalf of residential and commercial developers and sponsors. Her work includes the preparation of public offering statements, master deeds, declarations and other documents governing the association. She advises on regulatory issues arising within the jurisdiction of the DCA, including public disclosure compliance, conversion and eviction laws, builder registration, new home warranty problems, consumer protection, community association regulations, and building or housing code violations.

She also performs the registration of developments situated outside of New Jersey with the Bureau of Subdivided Land Sales Control of the New Jersey Real Estate Commission so that homes in other states may be offered and sold within New Jersey.

Her experience encompasses residential condominiums, and subdivided lot communities administered by associations, where she structures the interests of high-rises, single-family detached units, townhomes, stacked flats and duplexes. She provides guidance related to the conversion of rental properties to the condominium form of ownership and the removal of tenants within the context of a conversion. Compliance with lending guidelines, age-restrictions and affordability controls restricting occupancy to low-and moderate-income households are part of her residential development practice.

Her work also includes all aspects of mixed-use developments, including those accommodating commercial, retail, office, and business uses, as well as industrial condominiums. She has significant experience in structuring and documenting large scale commercial, industrial and mixed-use developments to satisfy the specific requirements of institutional lenders.

Chris counsels successor developers and sponsors, owners, lenders, and associations on regulatory issues in existing and distressed communities, including negotiating to resolve financial and operational issues between the developer and the association. She undertakes the reformation of existing governing documents to resolve problems which were unanticipated when documents were originally drafted or are warranted due to the passage of time.

Chris has expertise in phasing developments to afford the sponsor maximum flexibility in planning and timing construction, and in incorporating improvements into a development. This includes compliance with requirements imposed by the Federal National Mortgage Association and Federal Housing Administration. She assists in recognizing and reconciling differences in expenses and ownership interests within a single development and in anticipating economic and operational differences using master and sub-associations.

In addition to her condominium and planned real estate practice, Chris is experienced in the acquisition and sale, mortgage financing and leasing of commercial and residential real estate.  She provides litigation support in cases involving construction defects and transition from sponsor to unit owner control of associations. Her community association representation also includes general counseling, collections, and alternative dispute resolution.

Results may vary depending on your particular facts and legal circumstances.

Bar Admissions

  • New Jersey, 1982
  • U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey, 1982

Education

  • University of Pennsylvania Law School, J.D., 1980
  • Rutgers University, B.A., 1977

Recognition

  • American College of Real Estate Lawyers (ACREL) Fellow
  • College of Community Association Lawyers Fellow
  • Listed in Chambers USA (a publication of Chambers and Partners) in the Real Estate practice area (2006 – present)
  • Listed in The Best Lawyers in America (a trademark of Woodward/White, Inc.) in the Real Estate Law and Community Association Law practice areas (2011 – present)
  • Selected by Best Lawyers (a trademark of Woodward/White, Inc.) as 2019 Woodbridge "Lawyer of the Year" in Real Estate Law
  • Listed in New Jersey Super Lawyers (a Thomson Reuters business) in the Real Estate: Business practice area (2008 – 2025); listed by Super Lawyers as one of New Jersey's Top 50 Women Lawyers (2008, 2011 – 2014, 2016 – 2021)
  • Listed in Lexology Index Thought Leaders: USA (published by Law Business Research Ltd.) in the area of Real Estate
  • Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Rated AV Preeminent (a trademark of Internet Brands, Inc.)
  • Recipient of the 2015 Hall of Fame Award from the New Jersey Chapter of the Community Association Institute, in recognition of her "outstanding dedicated service" to the chapter
  • Recipient of the 2013 Arthur S. Horn Distinguished Service Award from the New Jersey State Bar Association Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section, in recognition of significant contributions to the development of Real Property Law in New Jersey
  • Recognized by the New Jersey Law Journal (a publication of ALM Media Properties, LLC) in a 2003 annual report on leaders among women and minority lawyers in New Jersey
  • Recipient of a New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education Distinguished Service Award (2000)

American College of Real Estate Lawyers Best Lawyers - Lawyer Logo Best Lawyers - Lawyer of the Year Logo 

Please visit our Award Methodology page for a description of the standard or methodology on which these accolades are based. Attorney Advertising: No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey.

Representative Matters

  • Represented a major real estate investment firm in structuring a $322 million mixed-use data center, residential, and commercial development project, drafting reciprocal easement and condominium governance documents to support multi-owner conveyances and future buildout.
  • Represented a leading U.S. homebuilder and its development partners on complex multi-builder and mixed-use communities, including Sea Bright, Freehold, Chatham, and Berkeley Heights, preparing governing documents, negotiating cross-declarations and easements, securing Department of Community Affairs registrations, and advising on association transitions.
  • Representing a major developer in the redevelopment of a former U.S. Army installation at Fort Monmouth, structuring a phased mixed-use condominium project to maximize flexibility for future purchasers and commercial users.
  • Represented a national real estate developer in registering luxury condominium towers at the Four Seasons Deer Valley East Village in Utah with New Jersey regulators, enabling interstate marketing and sales to New Jersey residents.
  • Representing the owner and condominium association of a distressed residential development in governance transition, regulatory compliance, and reactivation of stalled unit sales under the Planned Real Estate Development Full Disclosure Act.
  • Acted as local counsel in connection with the $121.5 million construction financing of a major mixed-use condominium project in Jersey City, including amendments to regulatory registrations.
  • Represented a residential developer in restructuring an age-restricted and affordable housing condominium in Mountainside, enabling conversion from failed sales to a mixed ownership and rental model through litigation, regulatory approvals, and complex re-documentation.

Memberships

  • New Jersey State Bar Association: Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section, Board of Consultors (former Chair, 2010 – 2011); Amicus Committee (former member)
  • Community Associations Institute - New Jersey Chapter (CAI-NJ): National Legislative Action Committee - NJ (past Chair); Board of Directors (former member and past Vice President); Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act Task Force (former member); Education Committee (former member); Editorial Committee (former member)
  • Asian Pacific American Lawyers Association of New Jersey

Committees

  • New Jersey Supreme Court Ad Hoc Committee on the Skills and Methods Course (former member)

Other Activities

  • Former instructor of the New Jersey Real Estate Law and Practice component of the Skills and Methods Course administered by the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education (1988 – 2008)

Announcements

Seminars & Events

Of Interest