DS News

20 In addition to his role at the Michigan-based firm of Schneiderman & Sherman, PC, Neil Sherman is also the President of Best Homes Title Agency, based in Michigan and licensed in 12 states. Sherman is responsible for the day-to-day oversight of both companies and has over 18 years' experience representing the mortgage servicing and investing community in the areas of foreclosure, bankruptcy, asset recovery, mediation, title curative, and REO conveyance. Sherman is also the past Chairperson and current Advisory Board Member for the Legal League 100, a consortium of default servic- ing law firms, which advocate on behalf of its membership and the industry at large. Sherman recently spoke with DS News about the possibility of an impending reces- sion, technological changes in the industry, and what can be done to combat fraud. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE BIGGEST HURDLES THE INDUSTRY HAS SEEN IN COMBATING FRAUD? Our weak link, when it comes to fraud prevention, at the end of the day, is people and education. Our job is to educate everybody on our teams about the possible risks associated with fraud. ere is no simple fix in the area of fraud prevention. If there were, some of the greatest minds in technology and at our Fortune 500 partners would have already solved it. e Federal Trade Commission, through the Con- sumer Sentinel Network, a group that tracks consumer fraud and identity theft, reported three million fraud complaints in 2018. Our continued reliance on convenience technology such as smartphones and other mo- bile devices and expectations of ever increasing efficiency has impacted the growing fraud issues we are encountering. If you are working at a feverish pace and lack substantial fraud prevention training, simple, every day emails or tasks that pose risk of identity theft or fraud may be missed. I think that the industry needs to continue investing in education internally. Fraud prevention cannot be a "gotcha" form of education alone. We try and tell a story when it comes to teaching our team about fraud prevention. We bring in speakers, provide presentations along with conducting internal penetration testing. We also highlight how everything we learn about fraud and identity theft prevention can be applied at home with our families. From an industry standpoint, as custodians of our customers' personal and sensitive infor- mation, we have a responsibility to share our knowledge in the field with the consumer. We need to do so, not in boilerplate legalese, but rather through informative brochures, videos, and other educational opportunities. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON A POSSIBLE RECESSION IN THE NEAR FUTURE? As usual, none of us have a crystal ball. We do the best we can to anticipate things by looking at metrics. But in reality, our job today is to operate in the environment we're in, to be the best partners that we can be, the best legal services providers we can be, while also preparing for the future. And how we prepare for that future is through additional training of our people, cross-training, and investment in technology. I have practiced in our space for almost 20 years. It was clear that when the Great Reces- sion hit, the entire industry was not prepared for the volume and the operational and legal complexities that came with it. ere has been an incredible evolution over the last number of years as our industry has developed better technology, tremendous efficiencies and new pathways throughout the default process. We have also seen a significant amount of consolidation in both the bank and non-bank servicing space, the technology vendor space as well as legal services providers. As a result of the significant decrease in overall default volume, the consolidation and general aging "ere has been an incredible evolution over the last number of years as our industry has developed better technology, tremendous efficiencies and new pathways throughout the default process." COUNSEL'S CORNER LEARNING LESSONS FROM DIVERSE COURT CASES Neil Sherman Managing Partner, Schneiderman & Sherman

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