Loan Lawyers for the Public Good

The New York City Bar in cooperation with the New York Federal Reserve Bank has launched a pro bono program to match up lawyers with New York homeowners facing foreclosure. The program, known as the Lawyers' Foreclosure Intervention Network, is a pilot in New York City. Participating lawyers will negotiate with homeowners' creditors and where necessary represent homeowners in bankruptcy and other litigation.

The New York Fed asked the New York Bar to help lawyers navigate through conflict of interest problems that face New York firms who represent mortgage issuers or servicers. The New York City Bar has issued a special ethics opinion, and the New York Fed is "encouraging financial institutions to waive, to the extent possible, conflicts of interest that might arise in the representation of a distressed homeowner."