DFI now barred from regulating attorneys in their practice of law!

Attorneys are now exempt from the Mortgage Broker Practices Act in their practice of the law. On July 28, 2013 the MBPA was modified to exempt attorneys from its operation. The exemption contained in RCW 19.146.020 (1)(c) now reads that:[t]he following are exempt from all provisions under this chapter. . . An attorney licensed to practice law in this state. However, all mortgage broker or loan originator services must be performed by the attorney while engaged in the practice of law; all mortgage brokers or loan origination services must be performed under a business that is publicly identified and operated as a law practice; and all funds associated with the transaction and received by the attorney must be deposited in, and maintained in, and disbursed from a trust account to the extent required by the rules enacted by the Washington supreme court regulating the conduct of attorneys.That broadening of the exemption eliminates the Department of Financial Institutions’s (DFI’s) asserted authority to regulate attorneys so long as the attorneys are acting as such. The Rosenberg Law Group, PLLC asserts that this change reflects the legal reality predating the modification of the MBPA. In any case, it should spell the end of the DFI’s reckless adventure into the regulation of the practice of law.