Legal Assistance Funding for Cook County Homeowners

In February, the federal goverment and state attorney generals announced a $25 billion settlement with five large national banks for “robosigning” foreclosure paperwork.  Illinois is receiving a portion of that money, somewhere betwen $1 – $1.5 billion.  Our state attorney general announced her intention to distribute $20 million of the settlement funds for legal aid, and the first funds are finally filtering through.

 

The Legal Assistance Foundation will receive about $4.7 million of the settlement funds.  This money is intended to expand legal services to distressed tenants and homeowners in Cook County.  Specifically, the Legal Assistance Foundation hopes to have twenty attorneys and paralegals working on cases involving distressed homeowners and tenants.  They also plan to conduct seminars designed to provide legal traning in foreclosure defense and bankruptcy.  Lastly, they hope to work with teh courts to improve the Cook County Foreclosure Mediation Program.