Membership Guidelines

Established By The Board of Regents of the American College of Mortgage Attorneys

The following guidelines for determining an attorney's eligibility for membership in the College shall be in addition to such other requirements for membership as are set forth in Article III of the Bylaws and shall be followed and applied by Regional Chairs in their evaluating and recommending, and by members of the College's Membership Committee in their voting, on nominees for membership in the College pursuant to Article III of the Bylaws:

Each nominee shall be perceived among the nominee’s peers to be an experienced, knowledgeable and distinguished practitioner in the field of real estate mortgage law, based upon the high caliber of the nominee’s legal skills, professionalism, and commitment to giving back to the legal profession and the nominee’s community, and based upon the nominee’s outstanding reputation for excellence, integrity and collegiality. As such, the nominee shall have demonstrated devotion of material time and effort (a) to add to a more informed bar or public on the subject of real estate mortgage transactions and to improve the law and practice in such area through bar or bar association activities; lecturing; writing and publishing; teaching (other than as the nominees primary occupation); and/or drafting legislation or other participation in the legislative process (other than as an elected legislator or lobbyist); and/or (b) to actively participate in charitable and civic endeavors in the nominee’s community, particularly those related to the legal and/or real estate professions.  Speaking and writing for for-profit organizations or for marketing purposes should be considered, but will be given less weight than other give-back activities.  In addition, the nature and extent of the give-back should be assessed in light of the available opportunities in the jurisdiction.  Less experienced practitioners may not have the same opportunities in larger jurisdictions than in less populous locales.

The nature of the nominee’s law practice shall be congruent with or at least not opposed to the interests of institutional mortgage lenders and attorneys who represent borrowers, lenders and other entities in real estate financing and related operations.

The nominee shall acknowledge that he/she will (a) attend at least one (1) meeting (such meeting being either the Annual Meeting or Spring Meeting) within the first three (3) year period following the nominee’s election to Fellow, and/or (b) actively contribute to the College in other meaningful respects.  

The fact that the College has one or more Fellows from an organization or law firm shall not preclude the selection of another person from the same organization or law firm.

The fact that the nominator is in the same company or firm as the nominee shall not preclude the nominator from nominating the nominee, but such nominations shall be subject to greater scrutiny by the Membership Committee.

The Regional Chair who is responsible for evaluating and making a recommendation regarding a particular nominee shall, in the report to the Membership Committee concerning such nominee, specifically address whether, based on the Chair's personal knowledge, an email survey of the other Fellows in the jurisdiction (or within Canada in the case of Canadian nominees), and/or information obtained from the nominee or from other persons in the course of investigating the qualifications of the nominee, the nominee satisfies each of the foregoing guidelines.

Adopted by the Board of Regents on April 7, 1990. Amended by the Board of Regents on October 15, 2015, and further amended by the Board of Regents on September 5, 2019.