Better Business Bureau

The California State Bar announced September 21 the names of 16 attorneys it is investigating in connection with "misconduct related to loan modification businesses."

The attorneys and their law firms are listed below:

• Eric D. Johnson - Avantgarde Group
• David Arase - Arase Law Firm | National Housing Assistance
• Stephen Burns - Legal Group Network
• Robert Buscho - United Law Group
• Nicholas Chaverela - Rodis Law Group | America's Law Group
• Steven Feldman - Feldman Law Center
• Paul Lucas - Lucas Law Center
• Brandon Moreno - U.S. Foreclosure
• Jeffrey Nemerofsky - U.S. Advocacy Law Group
• Gregory Paiva - Law Offices of Gregory Paiva
• Adrian Pomery - U.S. Foreclosure
• Ronald Rodis - Rodis Law Group
• Mark Shoemaker - Advocates for Fair Lending
• Marc Tow - Marc Tow and Associates
• Sean Rutledge - United Law Group

The Los Angeles Daily Journal reports the bar's action in releasing these names as having been taken in response to "'unprecedented complaints'" against some bar members. "We have never in my time at the bar received so many complaints in connection with a single area of practice," notes the Bar's interim chief counsel.

Although Bar investigations generally must be kept confidential until formal charges have been filed, confidentiality may be waived when "'warranted for protection of the public.'" Bar officials felt their waiver was warranted because of the severity of the foreclosure crisis.

Bill Mitchell, Better Business Bureau President, agrees, noting that when, some months ago, California law was revised to prohibit collection of advance fees by foreclosure consultants, it exempted licensed attorneys. Thereafter, affiliations of law firms with foreclo­sure consultants sprang up to take advantage of this exemption. Some attorneys began to limit their work to the lucrative practice of loan modification. By itself, this would not necessarily be problematic, Mitchell says, but when the affiliation is such that a small number of attorneys oversee a staff of sometimes in the hundreds of non-lawyers, the homeowner facing foreclosure is not going to be served by an attorney. In these cases, the modification service is sold by non-lawyers, the applications are completed and processed by non-lawyers and all client communications are with non-lawyers. From the beginning to the end of the transaction, the client may never speak to a lawyer. The inescapable conclusion is that lawyers operating these firms are not providing legal services. These lawyers are, instead, he says, only abetting employees in the unlicensed practice of law.

And, of course, some attorneys who can legally take money up front do little or nothing for the homeowner.

The law firms on the Bar's list are generally rated "F" by the Bureau. In some cases the Bureau has no file on the firm. According to the State Bar President, the article says, "far more attorneys than those listed are taking advantage of vulnerable homeowners."