Under fire by its official watchdog, as well as by a senior House Democrat, the Federal Housing Finance Agency last week announced it has directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to transition away from the GSEs’ current foreclosure attorney network programs. FHFA’s directive – which it says is in synch with the Finance Agency’s Servicing Alignment Initiative to produce uniform foreclosure processing standards – will move toward a system where mortgage servicers select qualified law firms that meet certain minimum, uniform criteria. Under current practice in certain states, each GSE designates law firms eligible to undertake foreclosure work, and mortgage servicers then select and work with these firms, according to the FHFA.