YLD Seeks Law Week Volunteers

The YLD seeks volunteers for Law Week events. Law Week is a weeklong series of programs placing Philadelphia lawyers of any age, as well law students, in the community to educate the city's youth and the public about the law through direct interaction. Some of our Law Week activities include:

Lawyer in the Classroom: Volunteer lawyers and law students will visit different schools throughout the week to address students' concerns about the law and the legal issues that affect them as they enter adulthood and answer questions about the legal profession. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Kelly Gastley at kgastley@phillyvip.org.

Legal Advice Live! A free, daylong ask-a-lawyer event spanning across Philadelphia. On Wednesday, April 29, dozens of Philadelphia attorneys will gather to provide free, in-person legal advice in Center City. Attorneys will provide answers to legal questions on a broad range of topics. If you would like to volunteer, please contact Abbie DuFrayne at adufrayne@yahoo.com. Volunteer attorneys will go into the community and give free legal advice at select Free Library of Philadelphia branches (exact branches still being determined). To volunteer contact Abbie DuFrayne at adufrayne@yahoo.com.

LegalLine: On Wednesday, April 29, area residents can call lawyers and have their legal questions answered free and confidentially. If you would like to volunteer for LegalLine (either April 29 or a future date), please contact Stephanie Mensing at smensing@wm-law.net.

The Trials of Goldilocks and the Big Bad Wolf: Volunteer attorneys will use the facts of the well-known fairytales Goldilocks and The Three Little Pigs as the basis for mock criminal trials on Friday, May 1. Volunteers will act as prosecutors, defense attorneys and witnesses in the criminal trials, which include opening statements, examinations and cross-examinations of witnesses, closing arguments, and instructions of the juries. At the conclusion of each trial the students are given the role of the jury and determine whether the Big Bad Wolf or Goldilocks are guilty of a crime. To volunteer please contact Heather Herrington at hherrington@rawle.com.

Lawyer for a Day: Volunteer attorneys, law students and judges pair with high school students and take them into the courts to learn more about the process of the judicial system as well as the role lawyers, judges, and juries play in our community. Several city courtrooms will be open to allow the participants to observe proceedings. This program starts at 8:30 a.m. on Friday, May 1 at the Bar Association, and all participants are invited back to the Association's 11th floor Conference Center for a concluding lunch, which includes a keynote by a guest speaker. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Carey Chopko at cchopko@feldmanshepherd.com.

Submissions from 4th-, 5th-, 6th- and 12th-grade students, are being sought for:

Edward F. Chacker Essay Contest: Named for former Bar Association Chancellor Edward F. Chacker, the 2009 contest offers a $1,000 college scholarship to high school seniors who attend public, parochial, charter or private schools in Philadelphia. Seniors are asked to write an essay of at least 1,000 words on the question: "If you were chosen to advise soon-to-be U.S. Citizens at their Naturalization Ceremony, what would you tell them their responsibilities are as a U.S. Citizen? Why are these responsibilities important?"

In addition to the scholarship, the winner will read their essay at a Naturalization Ceremony on Friday, May 1. Submissions should include the student’s name, address, telephone number and school on a cover sheet accompanying the essay. All entries must be received by Michael Petitti at the Philadelphia Bar Association, 1101 Market St., 11th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19107 or email to chackeressay@philabar.org by 12 p.m. on Friday, April 10, 2009.

2008 Poster Contest: All 4th-, 5th- and 6th-grade students who attend Philadelphia public, private, charter and parochial schools are invited to participate in the 2009 Poster Contest. Students are asked to: Draw a picture that best illustrates their favorite freedom. Posters should be produced on standard 22" x 28" poster board and students should include their name, address, telephone number and school on the back of the poster. First, second and third prize savings bonds will be awarded. All entries must be received by Micahel Petitti at the Philadelphia Bar Association, 1101 Market St., 11th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19107 by 12 p.m. on Friday, April 10, 2009.

Philadelphia Mortgage Foreclosure Diversion Program CLE, Mar. 11

The Philadelphia Court System in response to a national crisis caused by over 700,000 seriously delinquent mortgages and a 37% increase in foreclosure filings in Philadelphia alone in 2008 determined that judicial intervention was not only justified, but absolutely necessary to avert a crisis. The Mortgage Foreclosure Diversion Pilot Program is a case management alternative designed to provide early court intervention in residential owner-occupied mortgage foreclosure cases. The process involves early identification of suitable properties for the program and diverts those cases to counselors and pro bono attorneys for possible interest rate renegotiation, loan restructuring, or other settlement options prior to foreclosure.

The process involves early identification of suitable properties for the program and diverts those cases to counselors and pro bono attorneys for possible interest rate renegotiation, loan restructuring, or other settlement options prior to foreclosure.

The Mortgage Foreclosure Diversion Pilot Program provides court-sanctioned negotiations between lenders and borrowers to try to resolve troubled loans and avoid foreclosure.

The program has been extraordinarily successful and is being emulated in cities across the country.

Learn about the program and how to best represent your client facing foreclosure proceedings. Whether you represent the debtor or creditor- this program is for you. Click here to register for this program.

White House in Foreclosure!

It's a typical Monday night. The big rush home. My wildly delicious yet completely unpopular frugal gourmet frozen tilapia. And of course an evening wouldn't be complete without a torturous dog walk in the tundra and my lab Kyoto playing let's-fake-out-my-neglectful-owner head games with dozens of stops and starts and deceptive contorting. And then at last there's the quality one-one-one time with my lovely wife, consisting of reality TV interspersed with bits and pieces of conversation. Tonight's the finale of "The Bachelor." In a stunning twist, the former object of the bachelor's affection, who incidentally screwed up her last relationship, comes back from the dead to give some last minute dating advice.

And so I surf the net in search of something to write about, all the while of course cringing at the inane display of ratings cheesiness unfolding before my eyes. Unsurprisingly, there wasn't a whole helluva lot of upbeat stuff out there. Doom and gloom. The Dow spirals into negative numbers, man accused of stuffing a cat into a bong (seriously), Obama's pick for trade rep turns out to be the fourth nominee plagued by tax evasion issues. And then there's the developer on the verge of financial ruin down in Atlanta, who had grown accustomed to living large. Presidentially large in fact.

Fred Milani, an Iranian-American millionaire, has been living the American dream. Amassing a small fortune thanks to the yuppies with a voracious craving for McMansions. And what better way to spend the Benjamins than to build a shrine paying homage to these United States? For the past two terms, give or take, Milani has been living in a scaled-down version of the White House, complete with an Oval Office and a Truman Balcony overlooking a 75-car parking lot. He's taken liberties though, injecting his own interpretation of democracy into the mix. Let's start with the hookah, a must-have for any competent leader of the free world. Do they still actually refer to themselves that way? Come to think of it, that might actually explain more than half of the problems we've got around here. And in the vain of Scarface, there's a "M" tiled into his pool and a bust of you guessed it. Himself. In one of the bedrooms, he had Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation painted onto a wall. How's that for soothing? W-esque even.

Sadly and quite symbolically though, it looks like Mr. Milani is losing his digs to foreclosure. Go figure. Can you imagine the monthly nut on a ten million dollar mansion? When asked about his next move, Milani joked that he was toying with idea of "build[ing] the Congress building across the street." That's one way to change the foreclosure laws I suppose. I'm just surprised someone with such ingenuity didn't find a way to make the Lincoln Bedroom really work for him. I bet he could've gotten a pretty penny for overnights, using the donations toward his foreclosure defense-slash-reinstatement fund. Why not? Rumor has it Bill used his to concentrate on his domestic affair policies and then to raise moolah for the lawyers who assisted with the ensuing Monica scandal.

Harper Dimmerman, principal in the Law Office of Harper J. Dimmerman, can be contacted at harper@hjdlaw.net.

YLD Networking Event, March 26 at JL Sullivan's

The YLD, partnering with HBA, is holding a Networking Event on Thursday, March 26 at JL Sullivan's at Broad and Walnut streets. The event is a great opportunity to meet and socialize with young professionals in Philadelphia and is being sponsored by Esquire.