Shadow players of the eviction crisis: identifying and characterizing professional evicting attorneys in Massachusetts

Abstract

This paper examines an under-studied class of actors in the housing system: attorneys representing landlords. We use a cluster-detection algorithm to identify salient clusters of attorneys based on their scale of operations. We then characterize these groups—what we call professional, active, less active, and least active evicting and tenant attorneys—using metrics related to the geographic scope of their practice, their prevalence in eviction court, case outcomes, and client base. We find that there are large differences between the practices of professional and less active landlord attorneys: professional attorneys’ cases are resolved more quickly, more regularly result in executions, affect more varied geographies, and have a greater proportion of institutional clients. Placed in a growing body of literature on eviction and advocacy for tenants’ Right to Counsel, we argue that professional evicting attorneys—most of whom are named or founding principal—are not neutral actors, but are contributing to the worsening eviction crisis in class solidarity with landlords.