This training will prepare attorneys to help tenants of foreclosed properties who are facing eviction in Boston Housing Court or in other courts within our service area. A large portion of the properties in Boston in foreclosure go back to the lender or their servicing agent, resulting in new landlords suddenly owning many properties with existing tenants. These new landlords are often taking over properties that have fallen into disrepair as the prior owners ebbed towards foreclosure. Rather than bringing the properties into compliance with the State Sanitary Code, the lenders-turned-landlords are often refusing to collect rent, then bringing the tenants to court to evict them through summary process. In the vast majority of these cases, the tenants have done nothing to induce an eviction action, other than having had the misfortune to rent from an owner who later went into foreclosure. The attorneys work through negotiation, mediation, and sometimes litigation to help tenants remain in their homes or make soft landings if they choose to find alternative housing.

About the Speaker: Esme Caramello, Esq. is a Visiting Assistant Clinical Professor of Law at Suffolk Law School, where she teaches in the Housing and Consumer Protection Clinic. At Suffolk and in her previous position as a Clinical Instructor at the Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School, Esme has represented many tenants facing eviction after foreclosure and has lectured extensively on post-foreclosure evictions. She is the co-author, with Rafael Mares, Esq., of the article "Tenants Facing Foreclosure" (Mass. Law Reform Inst. 2008). Esme is a graduate of Harvard College (1994) and Harvard Law School (1999).

Registration: This training is free to attorneys who are available to assist clients on a pro bono basis. Lunch will be provided (including kosher for Passover options). For more information or to sign up, please contact Jessica Rubin-Wills at (617) 423-0648, ext. 129 or

jrubin-wills@vlpnet.org

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This is a joint project of the Volunteer Lawyers Project and the Lawyers Clearinghouse.