Amidst elevating scrutiny in the mortgage servicing industry, K&L Gates want to help mortgage servicers fight back. The international law firm assembled a foreclosure task force to coach lenders on formulating a “coordinated, nationwide defense” against fraud allegations and cited discrepancies in servicing procedures. “Servicers are being attacked by a variety of forces that we think require a comprehensive approach to foreclosure issues,” said company representative Larry Platt. K&L Gates is currently working with 10 to 12 loan servicers, none of which have been sued yet. However, they have received threats, Platt said. K&L Gates’ goal is not only to represent and counsel servicers on a strong defense, but also prepare for the inevitable hearings that will be held on Capitol Hill about the subject. “We’ve begun the compliance counseling, but the idea in part was to get ready,” Platt told HousingWire. “We can deal with the short term, but we need to be prepared for the long term.” By long term, Platt is referring to federal proposals that will spawn from the most current crisis. He, like many politicians and executives in the space, believes the robo-signing scandal and ever-spreading foreclosure moratorium is overstated. Platt said he understands the government concern that legal processes need to be fulfilled, but feels there are other elements that legitimize the effort as a pretext to stop foreclosures. “Virtually no servicer has uncovered borrowers who were not eligible for foreclosure,” said Platt. “We’re working with a lot of servicers with issues related to collateral, and gearing up for the collateral consequences of these attacks.” The task force includes lawyers from diverse areas of practice such as residential mortgage counseling, internal investigations, federal and state government enforcement action defense as well as class action defense, and loan-level litigation. K&L Gates is a network of 2,000 lawyers based all over the world. K&L Gates has 36 offices on three different continents, including Europe and Asia. Write to Christine Ricciardi.