Legal News

K&L Gates Starts Task Force to Deal With Foreclosure Saga

By Brian Harris

By Gina Passarella
Of the Legal Staff

Much of the discussion surrounding the dust-up over mortgage companies? foreclosure practices in recent weeks has focused on how consumers have been affected by confusing or fraudulent paperwork and threats of foreclosure.

Now, K&L Gates is looking to help its mortgage and banking clients that are under the intense spotlight as they navigate potential lawsuits, hearings and foreclosure moratoriums.

The firm said Tuesday it has created a U.S. foreclosure task force to assist clients in addressing questions and responding to allegations regarding their foreclosure practices and procedures.

The news comes as some financial institutions are restarting their foreclosures as part of a counterattack over allegations they did anything wrong in the first place, the Wall Street Journal reported today.

K&L Gates? task force will assist clients in formulating a coordinated defense to a wide range of allegations, from inadequate documentation and wrongful foreclosure to lack of standing to foreclose and failure to comply with affidavit and notarization requirements, among others, the firm said.

?Combined with the firm?s recognized capabilities in the compliance, policy, litigation, and government enforcement areas, K&L Gates? leadership and experience on mortgage finance and loan servicing matters make us particularly well-suited to assist clients impacted by this most recent attack on foreclosure practices, with our task force providing yet another example of the firm?s unparalleled government solutions abilities,? Laurence E. Platt, a mortgage banking partner in the firm?s Washington, D.C., office and a leader of K&L Gates? financial services practice area, said in a statement.

K&L Gates recently served as examiner in the New Century and WorldCom bankruptcy proceedings. The task force will draw from attorneys experienced in those types of matters, as well as in counseling residential mortgage loan servicers on compliance with state servicing laws; initiating and conducting internal investigations; defending lenders and loan servicers in federal and state government enforcement actions, class actions, loan-level litigation and commercial disputes; providing electronic discovery services; and serving as policy and government affairs counselors before Congress and government agencies.

Full post as published by The Legal Intelligencer Blog on October 19, 2010 (boomark / email).