Foreclosure-Mocking Law Firm Apologizes For Inappropriate Halloween Party

[Lunabelle]

BUFFALO, N.Y. — The head of a foreclosure law firm whose employees mocked victims of the mortgage crisis at a Halloween party last year apologized Wednesday to an outraged advocate for the homeless who said the firm showed "a disgusting lack of sensitivity."

Pictures from the Steven J. Baum law firm's 2010 Halloween party turned up last week in The New York Times, which said it received them from an unidentified former employee.

The pictures show people dressed to look homeless and a sign reading "Baum Estates" near part of the office decorated to resemble a row of foreclosed homes. Another picture features a tattered green tarp over what appears to be a hovel for the homeless.

The Baum law firm in suburban Buffalo is one of the largest-volume mortgage foreclosure firms in New York. Last year, it handled nearly 40 percent of the 46,572 foreclosure actions brought in New York courts, the New York Law Journal reported in February.