Legal Aid hosts foreclosure training conference

Legal Aid hosted an all-day training conference for lawyers on foreclosure Sept. 3 at the Charles Ecker Business Center in Columbia . The training presented an overview of basic foreclosure law and recent changes in foreclosure law, including a review of claims and defenses for effectively representing homeowners.

Presenters included Vicki Schultz, senior advisor for consumer protection at the Dept. of Labor, Licensing & Regulation; Peter Holland of the Holland Law Firm; Sally Scott, senior program officer at the Baltimore Neighborhood Collaborative; and Daniel Mosteller, litigation counsel at Center for Responsible Lending. Legal Aid presenters included staff attorney Kathleen Skullney of the Foreclosure Legal Assistance Project, senior attorneys Louise Carwell and Susan Tannenbaum, and staff attorney Jake Ouslander of the Southern Maryland office. There were 66 attendees representing almost every Legal Aid office and community partners, including other legal services organizations and volunteer attorneys.

Public Justice Center executive director John Nethercut said he appreciated that Legal Aid opened the conference to other legal services providers. “We learned a great deal about the nuts and bolts of foreclosure defense,” Nethercut said. “We also appreciated that Legal Aid placed the legal issues within the broader context of how the foreclosures crisis is affecting homeowners, tenants, and communities by bringing in presenters from the Baltimore nonprofit housing community, the DLLR, and the private bar.  This training provides all of us valuable information as we consider a variety of strategies to address the foreclosure crisis.”