Program areas at ALFN
Events and education:the organization and its members strive to be the recognized leader oflegal education in the Financial services industry. In 2023 we held 4 live in-person events, 13 webinars, and other online presentations with alfn committees. Our online presentations are recorded and made available on-demand. All of our events are conducted to continue offering our members and clients with educational and networking opportunities. See schedule o for more info.
Publications:the alfn creates and distributes frequent electronic updates to our list of nearly 6000 industry contacts, keeping them informed regarding the latest industry information, Legal updates, regulatory & legislative updates and other groundbreaking initiatives. Our publications (offered online only) include the angle & willed (quarterly magazines), the legalist (membership directory) & the annual awards publication. The alfn, through its members, is routinely recognized in various industry publications, alfn periodically submits press releases regarding our accomplishments to other industry publications. See schedule o for more info.alfn publications are made available only only, and are distributed to our industry database of contacts, featured on our website, and available on our event mobile app during all alfn events throughout the year and at our exhibit booth at the mba servicing solutions conference each february.the angle is the alfn's flagship publication, published online each quarter. The magazine features in-depth Legal analysis of local, state, and federal laws affecting mortgage servicing, bankruptcy and foreclosure throughout the country. Readers will find member spotlights, state snapshots, infographics, and feature-length articles in each issue of the angle. Willed contains articles that are authored by members of the alfn's women in Legal leadership (will) group, and is published online and in print on a quarterly basis. Articles focus directly on the issues that impact women, with a focus on empowering women by providing the educational tools they need to be leaders.the membership directory guide (the legalist) is distributed online, and is updated in february, april, july & november. This publication includes an easy-to-use alphabetical listing of all alfn members throughout the country and is organized by state (for attorney-trustee members) and service (for associate members). The publication also includes information about the alfn, how to join, event information and other details about the alfn. The annual awards publication is available online and in print, and is used to recognize the recipients of our 3 different award types. The publication is released each july at our answers conference.
Advocacy and industry leadership:alfn submitted amicus briefs on issues that impact our members and industry clients. The alfn continues to work with servicers and gse's to maintain strong relationships with our clients as they assist us to ensure that the efforts and direction of alfn remains consistent with their unique industry needs. Alfn continues to grow and develop our strategic relationships with influential industry leaders. See schedule o for more info.we had discussions with the cfpb regarding our draft safe harbor letter to propose changes that work for the mortgage default industry. We continued our outreach to fannie mae and freddie mac to continue advocating for the needs of our collective members. We provided a comment letter to fannie mae regarding the changes to the fannie mae guidelines regarding minimum attorney qualifications. Alfn continues to maintain a direct source reo closing and title referral program with reo nationwide that continues to funnel reo closing and title business to attorney members of the alfn. Mortgage servicers continue to seek referrals through the alfn member Network, and peer-to-peer Network referrals continue among members through the alfn. We worked with isn corp to secure referral opportunities for our members through the united states department of agriculture (usda), rural development (rd), for national default management services (ndms). This opportunity is providing file referrals to our members for foreclosure services, reo, property preservation services, appraisal services, eviction services, and bankruptcy services through the usda rd's default portfolio. These relationships have directly resulted in new business opportunities for our members and direct cost savings on many important products and services utilized by alfn members. Alfn continues to work with other associations in our industry where itmutually benefits our members and clients. We periodically participate with these other industry associations through joint task forces to draft comment letters on regulatory issues and other issues impacting our joint members. Alfn also submits individual comment letters, and this year we held individual calls/meetings with the cfpb and gse's. We continually seek opportunities where our advocacy efforts can result in positive results for the best interests of our members.
Membership and governancealfn added 7 new attorney-trustee members (law firms and foreclosetrustees) to our Network, and 7 new associate members (industry service providers), bringing our total number of members to 139 (total member count by company name). Alfn welcomes these new members and are glad to have them as part of the organization. Their contributions will only help to strengthen the alfn, which continues to be the largest Legal services based professional trade association in our industry space.membership retention was 91%, and we target to achieve 90%+ each year. We are pleased with the continued support of our members.our board of directors met 10 times telephonically for our monthly meetings, held other calls as needed to discuss pressing issues, and met 3 time's in person during the year to conduct association business and strategic planning.