Dustin A Zachs has posted Robo-litigation to SSRN. Frank Paquale comments and has related links at Concurring Opinions. The abstract of Zachs's article:
The
recent housing crisis increased demand for attorneys to process
foreclosures through state courts. This increase in demand was coupled
with a desire for the fastest and cheapest legal services available. As a
result, large foreclosure firms designed to handle an enormous number
of foreclosure cases quickly and inexpensively evolved and flourished.
During their ascendancy, these firms consistently generated complaints
about their conduct, including questions about their ethical
decision-making and about the veracity of the pleadings and documents
they filed. Scholarly literature on the housing crisis, however, is
largely devoid of commentary on ethical issues related to increased
foreclosures.
This Article tracks the rise and fall of several
notorious high volume foreclosure firms and examines the numerous
instances of serious misconduct their attorneys and paralegals
perpetrated. The Article accordingly examines the curiously muted
reaction from state bar associations, judges, and state legislators.
The
Article then proceeds to examine how these foreclosure firms differ in
makeup from traditional large law firms. Notable characteristics of
these foreclosure firms include lenders and servicers’ relentless demand
for increased speed and low costs, lack of firm-specific capital at
foreclosure law firms, and a factory-like atmosphere of legal practice.
The Article concludes with an examination of three policy options to
prevent another surge in attorney misconduct: changing ethical rules,
improving ethical education, and increasing state bar association
funding and authority.