US residential real estate broker Compass has hired a key adviser, Cooley partner Ethan Glass, as its chief legal officer, as it seeks to bolster its regulatory position.
Glass, a former US Department of Justice (DoJ) lawyer, joins from Cooley in Washington DC, where he was a partner. He is taking over from longstanding general counsel Brad Serwin, who is staying on until the end of the year to ensure a smooth transition before returning to private practice, according to Compass.
Compass said Glass’s appointment reinforces the company’s commitment to protecting seller choice, challenging coercive industry practices and empowering agents to market their clients’ homes without restrictions from third-party listing platforms.
In the run-up to his appointment, Glass was leading the Cooley team acting for Compass in a high-profile lawsuit against Northwest Multiple Listing Service, which was filed with the US District Court for the Western District of Washington in April.
Compass accuses its adversary of blocking homeowners from using narrow listings to test pricing and demand before marketing their properties more broadly, Reuters reported.
New York City-based Compass is the largest residential real estate brokerage in the US. It said Glass has been at the forefront of some of the most consequential legal battles involving antitrust and industry policies in the real estate market, including MLS (multiple listing service organisation) governance, listing data access, brokerage competition and platform accountability.
Robert Reffkin, co-founder and CEO of Compass, said: “At Compass, we firmly believe agents should not be fined by MLSs or banned by Zillow for marketing listings off their platforms and that no agent should be told by an MLS or Zillow how they must work with their clients.
”Bringing Ethan Glass on board as our chief legal officer reflects our unwavering commitment to seller choice and challenging these restrictive practices that limit when, where and how homeowners can market their homes.”
Glass arrives after about three and a half years at Cooley, which he joined from Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, where he was also a partner. Prior to that, he spent close to nine years as an assistant chief and trial attorney at the DoJ, where he investigated and sued MLS for anticompetitive conduct.
He also had earlier stints in private practice at legacy firm Heller Ehrman and at Robins Kaplan Miller & Ciresi.
He said: “I’m honoured to join Compass, a company committed to empowering agents and ensuring homeowners retain control over how their properties are marketed. This is a pivotal moment for the real estate industry, and I am excited to provide my expertise to a company that is so clearly aligned with supporting both its agents and the homeowners they serve.”
In other real estate-related moves, last November US commercial real estate finance and advisory firm Walker & Dunlop promoted deputy general counsel Dan Groman to GC.
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