Courtesy of The Florida Bar The Florida Bar’s Ethics Hotline has received numerous calls from lawyers who have been contacted by non-lawyers seeking to set up an arrangement in which the lawyers are involved in loan modifications, short sales, and other foreclosure-related rescue services on behalf of distressed homeowners. These non-lawyers include mortgage brokers, realtors, financial management advisors, foreclosure “consultants” and others who engage in foreclosure related rescue services or other similar services. Non-lawyers have proposed a variety of agreements, even offering to hire lawyers as “in-house counsel” to provide services to the non-lawyer's customers. The Foreclosure Rescue Act, Section 501.1377, Florida Statutes, went into effect October 1, 2008 and imposed restrictions on non-lawyer loan modifiers to protect distressed homeowners. The legislature … [Read more...]
National LGBT Bar Recognizes Attorney
Courtesy of Metropolitan News-Enterprise The National Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Bar Association yesterday announced its selection of Burbank attorney Christian Dowell as a recipient of the organization’s Out & Proud Corporate Counsel Award. Dowell, who serves as legal director of Global Brand Protection at Yahoo! Inc., was praised by association Executive Director D’Arcy Kemnitz as “a respected leader in the legal profession and in the LGBT community” and “an example to future leaders in the movement for equality.” Kemnitz said Dowell “is truly an inspiration to all legal practitioners selflessly dedicated to social justice.” A spokesperson for the association credited the attorney with having “done a remarkable job addressing and strengthening diversity awareness at Yahoo! as well as in the community. Yahoo!, the spokesperson noted, … [Read more...]
Stetson Students Retrace Civil Rights Journey
GULFPORT -- In May of 1961, Ernest “Rip” Patton was a 21-year-old drum major at Tennessee State University and Freedom Rider headed for Jackson, Miss., when he was arrested and transferred to Mississippi’s infamous Parchman State Prison. This June, Rip Patton will retrace that journey, this time joined by Stetson University undergraduate and law students and several nationally respected civil rights scholars as they travel through landmark cities of the American Civil Rights Movement. History will come alive when Patton and the students spend time in Nashville and Memphis, Tenn., and then travel on to Anniston, Birmingham, Montgomery and Selma, Ala., and Atlanta, Ga., from June 4 through June 10. Civil Rights Movement veterans will share their experiences from 50 years ago, when as children and young adults they helped change the course of American history. Students … [Read more...]
Hardest Hit Funds for Homeowner Assistance Available
Online applications will be accepted at the Florida Hardest-Hit Fund website. The online application process for the Florida HHF program is available. Troubled homeowners in all 67 counties who want to apply for HHF assistance will be able to do so via the website https://www.flhardesthithelp.org/ For a complete list of eligibility requirements, click here. Please be reminded that the single point of entry for the HHF program is the OFFICIAL Florida Hardest-HitFund website at www.FLHardestHitHelp.org. Florida Housing has identified several “imposter” and “copycat” websites posing as HHF application sites. Once the application process opens, we strongly encourage you to verify that the website you are using is, in fact, the official Florida HHF website BEFORE providing personal information. If you are suspicious about a website, please call the HHF Information Line … [Read more...]
