Mortgage Modification: The Hottest Minefield in Legal Practice

Mortgage modification — it might sound like a hot little area for a real estate lawyer who wants to augment a slow practice these days. Turns out, it isn’t likely to bring lawyers large sums of money, and can lead the uninitiated into hot water.

Fishkin tells it like it is on Tuesday (Photo by Jason Doiy)

At least that’s how Walnut Creek legal ethics attorney Jerome Fishkin broke it down Tuesday at a lunchtime talk for members of the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association. About 25 plaintiffs’ attorneys descended on the Bush Street conference room for pizza and advice on a number of topical ethics topics.

Fishkin, who defends practitioners in State Bar actions, said he has 10 active cases representing lawyers involved in mortgage modification work. A couple came from consumer complaints, a few others are advertising inquiries from the California State Bar. One is a lawyer swept up in an attorney general’s lawsuit against a company and anyone associated with it.

The ways Fishkin says lawyers get themselves in trouble: