State Bar Probe Looks Into Attorney's Role With Embattled South Florida Loan Modification Firm

Buried in a recent article in The Miami Herald on some of the homeowners who were allegedly victimized by Outreach Housing, a South Florida loan modification firm that is currently the target of a lawsuit by the Florida Attorney General, is this excerpt on an attorney who allegedly had some association with the modification company:

• [Blair] Wright, Outreach Housing's owner, blamed an attorney working with the firm for mismanaging the cases of hundreds of clients. [...] Wright has sued the lawyer involved, Kirsten Franklin, and The Real Estate Law Group, which has since been dissolved. Franklin declined to comment. The Florida Bar has received a grievance against Franklin involving her work for Outreach that is ''pending,'' said Arlene Sankel, chief disciplinary counsel for the Florida Bar in Miami.(1)

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• Wright said his firm had found a way to streamline the drafting and filing of federal complaints, since so many lenders and brokers failed to follow basic rules when originating home loans.(2) Sometimes, he said, to settle the cases, lenders offered better loan terms.

For the story, see Home 'saviors' can make a mortgage mess (Sometimes a firm that promises to help modify your delinquent loan can make matters far worse).

For more on the lawsuit, see:

• Florida AG press release, and
• Complaint - State of Florida v. Outreach Housing, LLC, et al.

Go here and go here for other posts on issues relating to attorneys, loan modifications, and the unlicensed/unauthorized practice of law.

(1) The Florida Attorney General's lawsuit also included allegations of unlicensed practice of law (see Complaint - paragraphs 20 through 33). No word if The Florida Bar probe is looking into those allegations against Outreach Housing. For related information on allegations of unlicensed pratcice of law by loan modification firms, and the aid by attorneys to non-attorneys in connection with the unlicensed practice of law, see:

• Unlicensed Practice Of Law Becomes An Issue With Some Loan Modification Firms,
• Federal Judge, State Bar Slam Attorney For Stiffing Clients Referred By Loan Modification Firm; Lawyer/Foreclosure Consultant Ties Now Facing Scrutiny,
• Cincinnati Bar, Ohio Supreme Court Slam Attorneys Teaming Up With Upfront Fee Loan Modification, Foreclosure Rescue Operators.

(2) For some of the types of activities that have been found to constitute the unlicensed practice of law in the State of Florida, see The Florida Bar v. We The People Forms And Service Center Of Sarasota, Inc., 883 So. 2d 1280; (Fla. 2004). In his lawsuit, the Florida AG cites State of Florida ex rel. The Florida Bar v. Sperry, 140 So.2d 587 (1962) (Complaint, at paragraph 28), and The Florida Bar v. Consolidated Business and Legal Forms, Inc., 386 So.2d 797 (1980) (Complaint, at paragraph 32). UnauthPractOfLawKappa