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Foreclosure Lawyers Have Conflicts of Interest?

I can't believe lawyers could be motivated by something other than what is in the best interests of their clients:

[M]ediators complain lenders and their attorneys are stifling the system by pressuring negotiations to end in a stalemate.

In some cases, mediators report that deals were struck for trial payment plans or to seek a loan modification, but that banks or their attorneys asked for the meeting to be recorded as an impasse.

The motive for a deadlock, homeowner advocates say, is money. Declaring a different outcome stalls the process and could mean a return to mediation if an agreement falls through. At the same time, several of the state's large foreclosure law firms also run title companies, which can pick up business when a home is repossessed.

This is apparently why the mediation forms no longer have "impasse," but instead have "adjournment" as an option if the mediation does not either settle or fail.

I'm sure the Bar will get right on this.

In other news, today is President's Day, which means your kids are home, the courts are closed, and you get to wear jeans to the office, write a letter or work half-heartedly on a brief, surf the tubes without interruption for three hours, and pretend you did something billable.

I call that American exceptionalism.

Full post as published by South Florida Lawyers on February 21, 2011 (boomark / email).