On May 26, 2009 the University of Miami School of Law announced the establishment of several Foreclosure Defense Fellowships. These fellowships are available for May 2009 UM Law graduates who become members of the Florida Bar. The goal is to provide meaningful and fulfilling post-graduate alternatives while helping local residents caught in the foreclosure crisis. In addition to the honor of being selected, participants will acquire real-world work experience, have the satisfaction of helping address a serious need in our community, and still have some free time to look for longer-term employment.

Winners of these Fellowships will receive a limited grant totaling $10,000, paid in monthly installments, in exchange for a commitment to (1) attend a three or four day training session in late September, and then (2) work at least three days a week for 27 weeks with either Dade Legal Services or Broward Legal Aid, commencing as soon as you are admitted to the Florida Bar.

Further details are available on the application form at http://www.law.miami.edu/4close/application.pdf.

South Florida is ground zero for the national foreclosure crisis. The courts and the legal system are overwhelmed by this legal tsunami. In all of 2006, fewer than 10,000 foreclosures were filed in the Miami-Dade courts. In the first month of 2009, more than 6,000 foreclosures were filed in those same courts -- more than half the annual number three years ago -- and the rate of foreclosure filings has increased since then. Last year 56,656 foreclosures were filed in Miami-Dade County alone. This year we are on track to double that number. Although hard figures are difficult to come by, it is estimated that almost a third of these local foreclosure cases involve owner-occupied homestead property ("residential homestead mortgage foreclosures"), and that a very large fraction of the borrowers in those cases are unrepresented.

This is an unprecedented legal crisis for our community. As the Daily Business Review recently put it, "thousands of families are being displaced. Some end up on the streets or in shelters."

The fellowships, with the help and strong support of Interim Dean Paul Verkuil and several other members of the UM faculty and administration, is only a beginning. It is being spearheaded by UM Law Professor Michael Froomkin.