Experts to Examine the Effects and Lessons of the Mortgage Foreclosure Crisis

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – With almost 9 million homes lost to foreclosure since 2007, the mortgage foreclosure crisis has devastated the economy and the American dream. The Arkansas Law Review will host a symposium of experts on mortgage and foreclosure law to examine the effects and lessons learned from the mortgage foreclosure crisis. The all-day symposium will begin at 9 a.m. Friday, Nov. 9, in the E.J. Ball Courtroom of the University of Arkansas School of Law. The event is free and open to the public and will also offer five hours of continuing legal education credit to practitioners. The symposium will be live streamed at the William H. Bowen School of Law in Little Rock.

“The law students who publish the Arkansas Law Review have brought experts from across the nation to tackle the toughest questions surrounding the mortgage foreclosure crisis,” said Stacy L. Leeds, dean of the School of Law. “I am grateful to the editors and law review staff for their tireless work in putting together an outstanding symposium. I am also pleased to have Distinguished Visiting Professor Dale Whitman in our midst and am indebted to him for his leadership in this area.”

Professor Bill Breetz will give the keynote opening presentation. Breetz is a Connecticut commissioner to the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, a member of the Joint Editorial Board on Real Property Acts of the Uniform Laws Conference and a member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers. He is the former president and executive director of the Connecticut Urban Legal Initiative. Breetz also served as a reporter of the Uniform Laws Confer­ence for the Uniform Condominium Act and the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act. Breetz’s talk will qualify for one hour of continuing legal education credit.

The first panel discussion, “Systemic Effects of the Mortgage Foreclosure Crisis,” will take place from 10 a.m. to noon. The panel will be moderated by University of Arkansas Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law Dale Whitman and will feature Fred Burnside, co-chair of Davis Wright Tremaine’s class action defense group in Seattle; April Charney, a consumer advocate and attorney who works with the Jacksonville, Fla., Area Legal Aid; Kurt Eggert, law professor and director of the Elder Care Clinic at the Chapman University School of Law; Lynn Foster, Arkansas Bar Foundation Professor of Law at the William H. Bowen School of Law; Debra Stark, law professor at the John Marshall Law School; and John Valdivielso, associate general counsel at Freddie Mac. The panel will qualify for two hours of continuing legal education credit.

The second panel, “Looking Forward: Lessons Learned from the Mortgage Foreclosure Crisis,” will take place from 2 to 4 p.m. The panel will be moderated by Lynn Foster and will feature Bill Beckmann, president and CEO of Mortgage Elec­tronic Registration Systems Inc.; Tom Cox, volunteer program coordinator for the Maine Attorneys Saving Homes program; Bruce Kramer, former law professor at Texas Tech University School of Law and counsel at McGinnis, Lochridge, & Kilgore L.L.P.; Heather Kulp, staff attorney at Resolution Systems Institute; Grant Nelson, the William H. Rehnquist Professor of Law at Pepperdine University School of Law; and Dale Whitman. This panel also will qualify for two hours of continuing legal education credit.

 “The Arkansas Law Review is excited to host nationally renowned scholars and practitioners on a timely topic that affects many Arkansans,” said one of the symposium’s organizers, third-year law student Robin Wright. “We are grateful to professor Whitman for all of his guidance in planning this year’s symposium.”

To preregister for the event, please contact ArkansasLawReviewSymposium@gmail.com. To learn more about the event, please visit http://law.uark.edu/current/law-review-symposium-2012/.