Everyone knows that criminal defendants are guaranteed a lawyer when they are tried, but parts of New York City will now extend that process to homeowners facing foreclosure as well[1]. According to a report in the New York Times, “any homeowner in foreclosure who does not have a lawyer will be supplied one by legal aid groups or other volunteer groups.” Previous initiatives have successfully managed to get homeowners into courts and settlement meetings – something far less common in the past – but most homeowners do not know what to do once they are there, making the current system “an uneven playing field,” said Jonathan Lippman, New York’s state judge.
Lippman has requested that the state legislature allocate $100 million over the next four years to legal services programs in order to help level the playing field. He believes that the current system “doesn’t serve anyone’s interest, including the banks’.” The program being introduced in Queens and Orange County is a pilot program and will help homeowners from beginning to end of the process, starting with the state-mandated pre-foreclosure conferences[2]. In the pilot program, attorneys will be assigned to courthouses and represent homeowners in “as many cases as possible.” At the conclusion of the pre-foreclosure conference attorneys can opt to keep cases or refer them.
Do you think that this is an appropriate way to handle foreclosure cases in judicial foreclosure states?
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[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/16/business/16housing.html?src=busln
[2]http://www.law.com/jsp/nylj/PubArticleNY.jsp?id=1202482074292&Lippman_Describes_FarRanging_Agenda_in_State_of_the_Judiciary_Address&slreturn=1&hbxlogin=1
