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36 valuable information to firms and to servicers. I truly enjoy the opportunity to give back to the industry. Are there any key lessons learned or initiatives you were particularly proud to participate in during your time in LL100 so far? Van Ness: e biggest lesson I've learned is how important it is to be engaged. Especially as a firm partner or owner, you can lose focus on what's important to the clients or to the industry. I'm not saying you have to write white papers necessarily, it's more about participating on event panels and the sessions—engaging. You can learn so much and clients can hear from you. It continues your legal education, and I think it makes you a better attorney, a better member, and a better default industry executive. Hladik: [Legal League 100 membership has] been very valuable, especially in light of what we have all gone through in the last two years with COVID. ings were changing so rapidly. ings were coming out from the governmental entities and agencies, CFPB regulations, moratoriums, new statutory mandates; everything was changing on a state, county, and local basis. Being in the Legal League and being able to receive and circulate that most recent information was a valuable part of that membership. Just finding out and being on top of the regulatory changes, as well as what enforcement things were going on through the CFPB. It's a valuable educational tool. ere's an inherent part of this trade group that connects you to the industry, not just on the mortgage servicing side, but on the government regulatory side. at's incredibly valuable in terms of keeping you up to speed. Our past Chair, Roy Diaz, was a tremendous leader in that area, in terms of dealing with the governmental agencies, as well as other regulatory bodies. What are some of the top achievements or milestones you feel LL100 achieved since the advent of the pandemic? Hladik: e biggest and best milestone was meeting live last September at the Five Star Conference. To have actually achieved that and have a well-attended, successful, in-person conference was very nice. But even in spite of COVID, look at how much the Legal League did in the last 18 months and how fast it adapted. We did have the live event, but we also had several very successful virtual events. We have a robust and excellent webinar committee going now, where we're putting on solid topics that we have mapped out through 2022. Our Legal League Quarterly is continuing to thrive. I'm sure Tony will speak to this, but our goals are even loftier for 2022. We want to bring back more members to the League, increase its visibility, increase its advocacy on behalf of its law firm members, increase its educational opportunities for mortgage service and industry, as well as our continued advocacy and engagement with the regulatory bodies. Van Ness: Also, our Special Initiatives Work Group (SIWG) came out with a couple of whitepapers. We have a paper now that's going to help clients navigate vacant properties and how to deal with them. at group alone has become a real weapon to help us navigate the changing landscape of the default industry. We can charge the SWIG with missions that will illuminate questions we may have in certain topics. Hladik: We've also now formed the Government Affairs Committee, which is going to be chaired by Roy Diaz and Caren Castle. ey're going to continue to focus on the mission of advocacy before the governmental bodies. I know with their outstanding backgrounds and dedication to the industry that this Committee will prove to be quite valuable to both LL100 members and the mortgage servicing community. What are the primary headwinds or growth areas you see for the League in 2022? Hladik: We do still face headwinds. I was talking to somebody the other day about how remarkable it is where we have come from in the last 24 months, how the law firms had to modify the way they do business, increase technology, and quickly adapt to a virtual world. A video call like this never would've happened 24 months ago, and now, they are routine daily events for court proceedings. And of course, we are going to see the expiration of the various moratoriums come January, and that will create a different sort of headwind. ere are a lot of pre-COVID defaults "The biggest lesson I've learned is how important it is to be engaged. Especially as a firm partner or owner, you can lose focus on what's important to the clients." —Legal League Vice Chair J. Anthony Van Ness By: David Wharton Legal Industry Update