SBLS Attorneys Author Featured Articles in Clearinghouse Review

 South Brooklyn Legal Services attorneys Johnson Tyler and Rebekah Cook-Mack each authored articles which were featured in the 2010 November-December issue of Clearinghouse Review, the publication of the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law.

Johnson Tyler, Director of the Social Security/Consumer Rights Unit at SBLS, co-wrote “Advocacy Note: Public Interest Lawyers Are Key in Passage of Landmark Legislation to Stem “Sewer Service” in New York City” (subscription required), which focused on the successful effort to pass meaningful legislation to crack down on the abusive practice of not actually giving people notice of lawsuits but instead throwing court papers “in the sewer.”

From the article: 

Some of the events that transpired in the sewer-service struggle were fortuitous and timely, but the ultimate passage of this progressive legislation would not have occurred without advocates bringing the problem to the attention of the public, the media, and various governmental actors. Advocates were also responsible for aggressively pushing the bill forward. Although advocates may lack the subpoena powers of an attorney general’s office and may not be able to impose fine or revoke licenses as an agency can, they can take such other measures as thinking outside the box to effect change.

Read more about the legislation and the role that advocates took in getting it passed by clicking here.

Rebekah Cook-Mack, an SBLS Staff Attorney, co-authored “Enforcing the Home Affordable Modification Program Through the Courts,” (subscription required) which notes the failure so far of the Home Affordability Modification Program  to live up to its promise of helping large numbers of homeowners facing foreclosure. In the article, Rebecca and her co-author show how, in defending foreclosure proceedings, homeowners can point to violations of HAMP proceduresand can also raise program violations affirmatively in suing loan servicers, most commonly as third-party beneficiaries of contracts between the servicers and the U.S. Department of the Treasury.