Commentary: Fighting foreclosure in Maryland

Daily Record, The (Baltimore), Jun 19, 2009 by Editorial

More than 850 Maryland lawyers have already answered the call from Chief Judge Robert M. Bell of the Court of Appeals to provide pro bono legal services for persons facing foreclosure on their homes. This is an impressive contribution by members of the state's legal community to help address a key component of the nation's economic crisis.

But that was only the first wave of the crisis. Now more needs to be done, and Chief Judge Bell came calling again at the Maryland State Bar Association convention in Ocean City last week.

"There are still close to 200 cases on backlog and more volunteers are needed," the judge said in his latest appeal. "We need more volunteers to represent homeowners in negotiating with lenders to change the terms of loans to help people stay in their homes. Ninety-five percent of the time, that is what happens. There are very few lawsuits."

Lawyers who volunteer receive free training, mentoring and even malpractice insurance for their pro bono foreclosure work. In turn, they agree to provide 15 hours of pro bono service or handle one case.

This is important work, vital to our economic recovery and essential to helping people preserve their dignity as well as their homes. We thank the legal community for the many hours its members already have contributed to this effort, and we hope more lawyers will step forward to serve.