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Real Estate & Property Law

Faced With Foreclosure, Homeowners Can’t Get Lawyers to Help

Posted Oct 6, 2009 1:05 PM CST
By Martha Neil

The foreclosure crisis is also a legal crisis, a new study says.

When homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages try to find lawyers help them fight to hang onto their homes, many can't do so, reports USA Today.

Hiring a private lawyer to help with the complex proceedings can easily cost $5,000. And legal aid clinics swamped by a deluge of foreclosures can't help everyone, according to a study released today by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University.

"Many homeowners are losing their homes because they lack the ability to navigate the landscape of our lending laws," the center says in a press release that links to the full report on the study.

"It's overwhelming how many people don't have representation," says Melanca Clark, a Brennan Center for Justice attorney who co-authored the study. "People don't know what to do when they have to go through this alone."

Some 60 to 85 percent of the defendants in foreclosure in some hard-hit areas don't have lawyers, the study found. While, for a number of defendants, foreclosure is inevitable, a good lawyer will recognize appropriate defenses that some can assert against their lenders and may be able to help a significant number refinance or at least slow down the process long enough to find alternative housing, the press release states.

Legal Services of Greater Miami Inc. is so busy that it can only represent those over 60 and families with children, senior attorney Carolina Lombardi tells the newspaper.

Related earlier coverage:

ABAJournal.com: "Mortgage Delinquencies at Record 13%, Still Rising"

ABAJournal.com: "Business Booming for Lawyers Who Help Homeowners Facing Foreclosure"

ABAJournal.com: "Tempted By Foreclosure Crisis, Some Lawyers Overcharge & Underwork"

Comments

1.

associate
Oct 6, 2009 1:28 PM CST

The number of people that think that all lawyers are rich with no debt and no family to support continues to amaze me.

If I start doing all of this free work, will my mortgagee accept the excuse, “I’ve been serving people who can’t afford it,” or do you think they’ll demand cash?

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2.

Joe
Oct 6, 2009 1:28 PM CST

I just had to pay $1,500 for pothole damage to my car.  I didn’t get any free service from the auto repair shop.

When I go to the doctor, I don’t get free insurance.  When I go to the dentist, I don’t get free services.

When lawyers give their service away, does it not further cheapen the practice of law. 

Next time I want my kitchen remodled, I should see if I can get that done pro bono,

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3.

MacTheKnife
Oct 6, 2009 3:22 PM CST

#2 When uninsured people go to the emergency room they can’t be turned away so the doctor analogy is a poor one.

Providing certain kinds of free legal services to those that can’t afford them doesn’t cheapen the practice of law.  It’s existed for decades with legal aid and other public interest groups as well as with the right to counsel in criminal trials, and the people that receive such free legal services are not even part of the market that affects lawyers fees.

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4.

Theodore E Bratton
Oct 6, 2009 3:42 PM CST

Comment removed by moderator.

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5.

B. McLeod
Oct 6, 2009 6:00 PM CST

It’s ironic that the poster who goes by MacThe Knife is, so far, the only one to comment with any degree of class.  Beyond what he (or she) has said, it is also true that a lot of private practitioners have handled cases with no fee.  Even during the Great Depression (when lawyers were scrapping with everybody else), large numbers of lawyers took cases without an expectation of payment.

I must add, #1, if you really are an “associate,” you couldn’t help these folks if you wanted, without your masters’ permission.  Conversely, if the firm tells you to do some pro bono, you will.  It’s not your call either way, so stop going on like you have a choice.  You’re a thrall, and you’ll do what you’re told, so don’t be such a blowhard.

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6.

Christine Springer
Oct 7, 2009 10:32 AM CST

I think you are all looking at this the wrong way. I’m a freelance paralegal who helps people daily find answers to their mortgage problems. I’ conduct loan audits to help people resolve their mortgage mess and help them find competent attorneys who will help them.

I have plenty of business, but it’s because I decided to make a difference and not just sit on the sidelines worrying about how i’m going to collect my hourly fee.

I don’t have a law license and yet I find a way to make a difference in these people’s lives. I help people for free all the time. Does that mean everyone gets my services for free?

Absolutely not! But a lot of people get reduced pricing so that they can afford it.

How about if lawyers figured out a way to charge less for their services and still help people? Believe it or not, there are a lot of people out there who can afford to pay you something, but no one wants to pay you $400 to take phone calls and push paper around. I know because I hear it all the time.

That’s the honest truth from a paralegal. I deal with people every day who don’t like lawyers for the very reason shown in these comments.

You have law licenses and an unparalleled opportunity to change the world for the better, not to mention bring in more business than you can even realize, but these comments show that a lot of you are missing the forest for the trees.

If any of you need ideas on how to help people affordably, feel free to contact me. I can help you help clients and still make money.

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7.

LizM
Oct 7, 2009 10:55 AM CST

I have to be with #3 and #5 here.  If you don’t remodel your kitchen or fix a ding in your car’s paint, you still have a place to sleep tonight.  Comparing legal services to kitchen remodeling, and failing to notice that we can in fact make a difference in a person’s life, and that this, like medicine, is more than just a business, is what cheapens the practice of law. 

Should lawyers provide free services to anyone that asks?  Should we never draw a paycheck again?  Absolutely not.  But we can take a few hours a month to volunteer and actually help people without thinking what that means to our paycheck

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