Central Florida Attorney Group Gears Up For Homeowner Foreclosure Defense

In Central Florida, the Orlando Sentinel reports:

• Community Legal Services of Mid- Florida and volunteer lawyers from the Florida Bar are creating a "Foreclosure Defense Project" and this week launched a recruitment effort from the region's legal ranks to bring more firepower to bear on the growing threat to community stability. Bill Abbuehl, executive director of the Daytona Beach based Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida, put out a call for pro bono attorneys to "help meet the enormous legal needs arising from the current foreclosure crisis."

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• A training session for lawyers who will step forward to help low income homeowners, looking for signs of "predatory lending" or other legal shenanigans among lenders, will be held Friday, July 11, at the Albertson Room of the Orange County Public Library at 101 E. Central Blvd. in Orlando , from 9 a.m. to 3. p.m. Space is limited so lawyers are asked to register, by calling the legal aid group at 407- 708-1020, ext. 3101, or e-mailing to janetteh@laccf.org.

For more, see Legal group to help more people facing foreclosure (if link expires, try this link).

Editor's Note:

As has been noted on this blog in the past, the term "pro bono" doesn't necessarily mean that an attorney doesn't get paid for his/her services. While the services may, in fact, be "free" to the client receiving the legal services, there is a distinct possibility that an attorney representing "prevailing party" homeowners in foreclosure actions can leverage his/her pro bono services into court-ordered attorney fee awards to be imposed on the losing mortgage lender, loan servicer, etc.(1)

For examples of attorneys seeking to convert their pro bono opportunities into legal fee awards, see:

• The National Law Journal: Pro Bono Case Triggers a Fee Fight (Two recent instances of large firms collecting large fees in pro bono cases point to an increasingly controversial issue),
• New York Lawyer / New York Law Journal: NY BigLaw Leader Scores $1 Million Fee in Pro Bono Case.

Go here for other posts referencing legal fee awards in pro bono cases.

(1) It may be that these cases could be better described as "contingent fee" cases; attorneys taking on these cases may be well advised to have contingent fee retainer agreements with their "pro bono" clients). legal fee pro bono