Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court requires lawyers for the lender to be present and active at real estate closings

In answer to two certified questions from the First Circuit the Massachusetts high court has ruled that Massachusetts law requires the presence and substantive participation by a lawyer on behalf of the mortgage lender but that routine title examination does not constitute the unauthorized practice of law. The case is Real Estate Bar Assn for Mass. Inc. (REBA) v. National Real Estate Information Services (NREIS), 2011 Mass. LEXIS 244 (Mass. 2011).