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PRACTICE OF LAW

IMPORTANT: THIS FIRM MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS AS TO THE ACCURACY OR CURRENT STATUS OF ANY LAW, CASE, ARTICLE OR PUBLICATION CITED HEREIN OR LINKED TO.  WARNING – SOME OF THESE REFERENCES ARE PRE-BAPCPA.

Prof. Nancy Rapoport told ABI that “the definition works pretty well, because any time someone takes legal concepts and uses them to analyze a client’s issues, it is the practice of law, in my book.” She went on to say, “it cuts through all of the minor variations and makes the basic rule clear, though the application of that rule in all situations is still tricky.”

Prof. Rapoport said there should not be “one rule for Big Law and another for consumer firms.”

Mortgage-assistance relief services not “the practice of law”

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v Consumer First Legal Group, LLC, 19-3396 US Ct Appeals, 7th Cir.  7/23/21) The financial crisis of 2007–2008 sent shock waves throughout the national economy. Perhaps nowhere were the effects felt harder than in the residential mortgage sector. According to one source, more than seven million homes entered foreclosure between 2007 and 2010. See S. Rep. No. 111-176, at 39 (2010). This appeal concerns the rules that apply to mortgage-assistance relief services. The question is whether the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“the Bureau”) correctly declined to treat two high-volume, national law practices under the rules governing lawyers, and thus whether the stiff penalties that were imposed on the firms (and their principals) can stand. We conclude that the Bureau’s decision that the firms and lawyers were not engaged in the practice of law was supported by the record, but that further proceedings are necessary on the issue of remedies.