"...and Wining, Winning, Winning" - (re-post)

As a solo practitioner I must acknowledge my work limitations; I cannot compete against the Boston or other big-city law firms employing 20 or more attorneys.

In the Foreclosure Prevention work I have been doing, I have had to bring actions against players like HSBC (and its subsidiaries HFC, Beneficial, Household Finance), America Home Mortgage Servicing Inc ("AHMSI"), Wells Fargo, CitiMortgage, etc. In so doing I lost my ability to do any work other than fighting these lenders, which hire Big Firms, 40th Floor Boston, 50th Floor New York, water-front Rhode Island etc. offices. They have associates, attorneys trying to become partners, being paid to fight anyone who gets in the way of a foreclosure.

The fighting is "civil" - sort of. The filing of a claim brings a ream of paper filled with questions for my client (Interrogatories) meant to elicit the smallest details about the case, and pages of "Request for Production of Documents". These legal tactics are used in reality to flood a small office with paper and consume time. Well I just drowned in the latest flood and there was no one to perform CPR.

Make no mistake - these firms are within their legal rights to protect their clients through any legal means, but are they and their clients acting "morally" or, using the word in the common sense, ethically? In many cases I believe the Lenders/Servicers/Investors are not. They claim not to have any responsibility for the loans they made/service, regardless of how onerous, regardless of "bad faith", "bait and switch", unconscionable, and just plain improper and misleading. What's worse is that by the time the problem hits, most of the laws enacted to protect consumers have run their course - the "Statute of Limitations" has expired - it's too late to argue about the violations.

The Lenders are about taking no losses, granting no relief to someone facing foreclosure, just WINNING! I concur that winning is nice but how about DOING WHAT IS RIGHT?

I have been generally successful in preventing foreclosures and reversing some that have occurred, and in getting modifications. I have been unsuccessful in making a living because I could spend every week, all week, working on foreclosure cases where the BIG FIRMS for the BIG LENDERS know how to kill a case - bury the other "guy" in paper.

The best and most apt summary of what it's like to work against the lenders is from lyrics of one of Don Henley's (formerly of the Eagles) songs:

"Today I made and appearance downtown.
I am an expert witness, because I say I am.

And I said, 'Gentleman....and I use that word loosely...I will testify for you; I'm a gun for hire, I'm a saint, I'm a liar - Because there are no facts, no truth, just data to be manipulated.

I can get you any result you like....what's it worth to ya? Because there is no wrong, there is no right; And I sleep very well at night;

No shame, no solution No remorse, no retribution.

Just people selling t-shirts just opportunity to participate in this pathetic little circus

And winning, winning, winning' "

Author's Copyright by Richard I. Isacoff, Esq, July 2010
rii@isacofflaw.com
http://www.isacofflaw.com/

Legal Aid Crisis - Is there a Free Lawyer in the House?

Providing legal assistance for those who truly cannot afford to hire an attorney has been taken for granted. We see the "public defenders" on TV, and hear about lawyers working, without financial compensation, for the good of the public - "pro bono".

Nationwide, legal aid programs are being ravaged by budget cuts, and in many states, due to the low interest rates. Massachusetts, like many other states, has a requirement that attorneys place clients money in a segregated account, often called an IOLTA account. If the funds will be held for any length of time, a separate interest bearing account is set up for the client's benefit. But money being held for a few days or even a week is put into the IOLTA account where the interest earned funds a large part of the legal aid programs.

Interest rates have fallen significantly to merely .5% from 5% in just 2 years. In Massachusetts for example, 2007 revenue from these accounts for legal aid was $31.8million. In 2008 it had dropped 50 $15.6 million, and as of July of this year, the interest earned was only $4.1 million - that is on track for a $7 million 2009. Couple this with the monetary cuts due to a drop in federal aid and less taxes being collected, and you have a system that can handle only a fraction of the cases it should. According to Lonnie Powers, the Executive Director of the Mass. Legal Assistance Corporation, there are and will continue to be battered women, people facing foreclosure, tenants being evicted, workers having wages withheld illegally, with NO LEGAL REPRESENTATION. Thoughout the Commonwealth there will be Thousands of people who would normally qualify for legal assistance, who will not! Even criminal cases are now lacking lawyers for defendants, so the cases take longer.

This financial problem is not unique to Mass. It's a nationwide problem and one that has no easy answers. There simply is not enough money to go around. It is like the perfect storm: lower interest rates being paid for deposits, federal money being cut due to the financial crisis, and the creation of probably 25% more work due to foreclosures, an increase in domestic violence caused by money worries, and tenants falling behind in rent with their landlords evicting them (rightfully in most cases but sometimes without following the right procedures).

In my small office alone, I could have an additional 100 foreclosure cases in a month or less if I could afford to work for free (keep in mind that small law offices are just like any other small business, with salaries, rent, insurances, and other expenses to pay).

Unfortunately, there appears to be no answer in the near future;. it is a sign of the times.

Author's Copyright, by Richard I. Isacoff, Esq, August 2009

www.isacofflaw.com

rii@isacofflaw.com