Legal Commentary

?Lawyer Could Lose License for Advising Clients to Break into Foreclosed Homes?

By Eugene Volokh

So reports law.com (registration required):

Since the mortgage meltdown, Pines has been advising clients to break into their foreclosed homes. According to the state bar, Pines, who has law offices in Carlsbad, Calif., often helped clients hire locksmiths to get into their homes, despite warnings by the courts and the police. Although Pines asserted that his clients were illegally foreclosed upon, the state bar maintains that they had no legal right to break into the houses ....

From October 2010 to February 2011, Pines has been cited several times for contempt and arrested. On Feb. 18, he was arrested for making threats against the occupants of a house once owned by one of his clients, according to the state bar petition. His clients lost their home in a trustee sale in December 2010. On Feb. 19, Pines was cited for trespassing at the property, and on Feb. 23 he was cited for violating a temporary restraining order by being at the site....

Full post as published by The Volokh Conspiracy on March 15, 2011 (boomark / email).