05/17/07

Texas law firm teams up with Neighborworks® America

In an attempt to reduce mortgage foreclosures, Texas law firm Barrett Burke Wilson Castle Daffin & Frappier, LLP, has entered into a partnership agreement with Neighborworks® America. Barrett Burke is known among law firms providing default resolution legal services to mortgage banking industry. The firm's attorneys represent investors and mortgage servicers in the resolution of defaulted loans.

The Neighborworks® America created the Center for Foreclosure Solutions to preserve homeownership in the face of rising foreclosure rates. It gives people a chance to live in affordable homes, improve their lives, and strengthen their communities. As a part of the recent agreement, the law firm will merge its loss mitigation practice of the Texas Homeowner's Assistance Division with Neighborworks® Center for Foreclosure Solutions platform and initiative.

The law firm has reportedly avoided foreclosure successfully in approximately 40% of the defaulted loans referred to it. Looking at the firm's crucial role in default resolution process, its merged operations with Neighborworks® will benefit it in its default resolution as well as the mortgage servicers and their borrowers- the homeowners.

The Center for Foreclosure Solutions together with the national nonprofit, mortgage and insurance partners builds capacity among the foreclosure counselors around the nation. Besides developing strategic solutions from studying the local and national trends, the center also carries out campaigns to reach out to the struggling homeowners.

Womble Carlyle's statewide program for veterans
"When Duty Calls" — is the title of the statewide pro bono project which Winston Salem-based law firm Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice has undertaken in collaboration with the Young Lawyers Division (YLD) of the North Carolina's Bar Association. This project aims at providing veterans with pro bono legal assistance when they seek to file disability claims with the Department of Veteran Affairs.

The joint venture will assist those veterans in North Carolina who have suffered combat-related injuries or other service-related disabilities in filing or to re-file their initial disability claims. Apart from licensed North Carolina attorneys, the project will include paraprofessionals, legal support staff, and law students to provide pro bono legal assistance to these veterans.

The project will provide training about the detailed process of preparing and submitting veteran disability claims. Full-service business law firm, Womble Carlyle was established in 1876 and has nearly 550 attorneys representing clients from its 11 offices. The firm ranks among AmLaw's 100 leading law firms in the country.

BIZARRE NEWS

You've got 'hiss' mail!
South African environmental police find venomous snakes in mail

You've got mail? Wait before ripping off the parcel cover. Be extra careful. The contents may prove to be deadly! No, this isn't entertaining at all. Ask the South African green inspectors who, says SAPA news agency, discovered that mail also spells DANGER! Much to their horror, these policemen found as many as 10 "extremely venomous snakes," among other parcels, which were being smuggled into the country, mailed in video cassette containers. Investigators cornered this extremely dangerous packet at the Johannesburg post office. The snakes which withstood a week's travails in the post were also extremely pricey stuff. They are worth about 10,000 rand each (1,400 dollars). What constituted the 'hiss club' were: three albino monocle cobras from southern Asia, three Arabian or Palestinian saw-scaled vipers, two Nubian spitting cobras, and two taipans, an utterly venomous sub-species usually found in Papua New Guinea. Don't fret. The addressee has been nabbed. However, it does require some extra strong guts to receive such a wild gift!! Wonder if the package had been marked as "Extremely fragile: Handle with UTMOST care (p.s.: if you value your life!)!? According to spokesman Jacques du Toit, there isn't any anti-venom for these snakes. Had any of "the contents" decided to bare its fangs, the handler wouldn't have lived long to tell his tale.