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34 SETTING THE BAR HIGH A conversation with Legal League Chair Stephen M. Hladik and Legal League Vice Chair J. Anthony Van Ness. Stephen M. Hladik serves as Partner at Hladik, Onorato & Federman, LLP. Formerly a Deputy Attorney General in charge of the Harrisburg office of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Consumer Protection, Hladik brings a broad range of experience to his mortgage foreclosure, bankruptcy, tax sale, and UDAP legal practice. A graduate of the Pennsylvania State University, Hladik obtained his law degree from Widener University, with honors, where he served as Internal Managing Editor of the Law Review. Hladik gained significant expertise in lending law enforcement while serving in the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Bureau of Consumer Protection, handling UDAP, FDCPA, RESPA, and TILA cases. He has served the role of Legal League 100 (LL100) Chair since 2021. J. Anthony Van Ness is the Founder and Managing Partner of the Van Ness Law Firm, a Florida default and litigation law firm with locations in Deerfield Beach and Miami. e firm has represented national mortgage lenders and servicers since 2004, making it one of the older default firms serving Florida and likely the only certified, African American one. e firm has won several performance awards over the years and takes pride in becoming Fannie Mae retained counsel in 2010 (until program ended). Van Ness serves on multiple boards for trade, associations, and charity, including as Vice Chair of LL100 since 2021. As we closed out the final days of 2021, Hladik and Van Ness spoke with DS News about the challenges LL100 will face in the coming year, as well as the victories and milestones the group has celebrated in recent months. To begin, could you tell me why serving in a leadership position within LL100 was important to each of you? Hladik: I truly value the membership in the Legal League. Our firm has been in it for a long time now. We were active members, then I got onto several committees, and then I became a Chair of a committee. I worked my way up to the Advisory Council and now have the humble responsibility of being the overall Chair. It's been a progression of well over a decade, but it's been very valuable to our firm. We've truly valued our membership, what we've gotten out of it, the contacts, the things we've been able to do, the people we've been able to meet, the network of attorneys that you get to know. e discussion of important topical legal issues is always beneficial. e new debt collection regulations just went into effect. I have heard from multiple firms that it's helpful to discuss those topics and see how different firms around the countries are dealing with the issues. We've benefited from a terrific webinar program throughout the last year, as well as the Legal League Quarterly, with the material it publishes. It's all very By: David Wharton Legal Industry Update