13-17-S IN RE: FORECLOSURE - RESIDENTIAL MORTGAGE FORECLOSURE NOTICE OF LIMITED APPEARANCE FOR MEDIATION ONLY - ORDERED 4/03/2013 BY ALAN A. DICKEY
WHEREAS, mediation is required in certain residential foreclosures pursuant to the terms of Administrative Order No. 12-25-S; and WHEREAS, many defendants in those cases are not represented by counsel and are unfamiliar with the mediation process; and WHEREAS, Seminole County Legal Aid has received a grant to assist unrepresented defendants in the foreclosure process; and WHEREAS, a number of lawyers have offered to assist unrepresented defendants on a limited basis pro bono; NOW THEREFORE, in order to facilitate the efficient operation of the administration of justice, and pursuant to the authority vested in me as Chief Judge of the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit of Florida under Florida Rule of Judicial Administration 2.215,
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that any attorney wishing to represent a defendant pro bono during the mediation process in a residential mortgage foreclosure case regardless of whether the attorney is referred by a program run by lawyer referral, legal aid, or legal services program or on the lawyer’s own volition shall file a limited notice of appearance in the form attached as Exhibit A and serve copies on the parties and the assigned mediator. When the notice of limited appearance is filed the attorney must attend the mediation session unless allowed to withdraw by the court. When the mediation process is complete the attorney may file a notice of termination of representation and have no further duties in the case.
DONE and ORDERED this 3rd day of April 2013