Staff Writer
After recently being awarded the right to be program manager of the Fourth Judicial Circuit Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Mediation Program, The Jacksonville Bar Association got to work in putting the foreclosure crisis program in motion.
More than 50 local attorneys and mediators recently attended the first training session at Florida Coastal School of Law for the uniform program that will facilitate communication between lenders and borrowers to settle disputes and ease the foreclosure burden on the court system. The training sessions specifically train circuit civil mediators in residential mortgage foreclosure disputes and the support of the initial session satisfied organizers.
“We were certainly pleased with the level of participation,” said Dan Bean, The JBA president. “The feedback we received has been overwhelmingly positive.”
Bean credited the work and presentations of numerous people, including Lynn Drysdale, Jim Kowalski and Brian Clarke among others, who helped address potential issues and spurred dialogue that will assist future efforts in solving issues between borrowers and lenders and overall aid the courts.
Drysdale was pleased with the local response as well.
“There were many mediators there and I recognized some of the best in the city,” she said. “I thought it was a very thoughtful, meaningful process that will help find solutions.”
The foreclosure mediation process makes the best of a bad situation, she said, as lenders work with borrowers to avoid recouping homes while borrowers are able to stay in their homes and aren’t part of the staggering volume increase in cases.
Kowalski called the turnout a “huge success” as he and other presenters shared the current issues for a somewhat new topic to many mediators.
“No doubt that this form of mediation is slightly different from most,” he said, “especially with the potential for such a high number of those unrepresented.”
One session doesn’t make an expert, though, said Bean, as the foreclosure issue is always evolving and mediators in the subject still “have a lot of homework to do” to keep up with the changing landscape.
Moving forward, The JBA plans to partner with Family Foundations of Jacksonville and Jacksonville Area Legal aid to provide legal services and mediation familiarization in the process.
Drysdale was encouraged by the level of participation in the session that left her enthusiastic about the program’s potential.
“I thought there were a lot of good questions and dialogue,” she said. “Everyone was thinking outside-the-box for resolutions.”
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