Search

MBA to co-sponsor Uniform Commercial Code Conference

Issue February 2014 By L. Gary Monserud

Is the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) relevant to current issues, especially issues arising in the context of home foreclosures? Should the UCC be amended to meet current concerns? Is there a need for federal oversight and intervention with respect to home mortgages and foreclosures? These questions and many more will be addressed in a conference jointly sponsored by New England Law | Boston's Center for Business Law, the Massachusetts Bar Association and the Uniform Commercial Code Reporter-Digest on Thursday, Feb. 27, at 154 Stuart St. in Boston. The conference will open at noon with a reception. There will be introductions at 12:45 p.m. and the panel discussions will run from 1 to 5:30 p.m. There is no charge to attend the conference.

In any given week, a person reading The New York Times or the Boston Globe will invariably come upon an article in some manner discussing home foreclosures, allegations of abuses by lenders, varied charges of wrong-doing in connection with loans and mortgages, and proposed statutory or regulatory reforms. Yet, respected members of the banking community will take issue with many allegations of abuse and find proposed regulations and statutes not only onerous but harmful to lenders and borrowers alike. It is difficult to get beneath the angry rhetoric to the hard legal issues confronted by legislators, regulators, attorneys for lenders and borrowers, and interested citizens.

The aim of this conference is to bring together experts on payment law, representatives of the banking community, advocates for homeowners and persons who can speak for the regulators, in an effort to refine and examine in-depth and detail current problems and cutting-edge proposed solutions relating to mortgages, promissory notes, foreclosure procedures and other related matters. The conference will also provide participants with a historical perspective on payment law, especially the law pertaining to promissory notes and holder-in-due course rights. Practitioners involved in any facet of real estate transactions, civil litigators, attorneys for lenders or regulators, students interested in the UCC or real estate transactions, and academics teaching or writing on topics involving real estate law or payment systems will find the conference to be interesting and timely.

L. Gary Monserud is a professor at New England Law | Boston and teaches Contracts, Modern Remedies, UCC: Sales, and UCC: Secured Transactions.