ALBANY, N.Y., Feb 14 (Reuters) - A new court initiative will allow all New York homeowners facing foreclosure to obtain legal representation and streamline the process of settling mortgage disputes out of court, Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman said Tuesday during his annual State of the Judiciary speech.

The "unprecedented" deal between the state, legal service groups and four large banks -- Wells Fargo, Citibank, Chase and Bank of America -- includes the creation of a new court part that will hear only foreclosure settlement conferences, Lippman said. Each week of the month will be dedicated to a different bank, with one attorney assigned to handle all cases for that lender.

"There will be no more excuses, no more delays," Lippman said. "Real negotiations will take place, and homeowners will leave the table with the best available offer."

The court system, Lippman said, is seeking to avoid scenarios that can delay settlement conferences for years, including homeowners being told their paperwork is out-of-date and lawyers for banks claiming to have incomplete sets of documents.

The program will kick off in New York City, where non-profit legal service groups have agreed to represent all homeowners entering the settlement conference process. The new part will not launch for "at least a couple of months," said Paul Lewis, who helps coordinate courts' handling of foreclosure proceedings for the Office of Court Administration.

Last year, New York became the first state to require attorneys for lenders to verify the accuracy of all mortgage documents. The rule led to an immediate dip in the number of foreclosures filed in the state, but court officials recently warned of a continuing crisis that is depriving homeowners of their legal rights and overburdening the court system. More than 345,000 mortgages were delinquent or in default in New York in 2011, according to a report released last month by the Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project.

The chief judge's announcement came less than one week after federal officials unveiled a 49-state, $25 billion settlement with five large banks. The settlement promises to pay $2,000 to any homeowner who has been illegally foreclosed upon, and some of the money will be used to fund legal service programs to allow homeowners to secure modifications on their mortgages.

A November report from OCA found that settlement conferences are ineffective when homeowners show up without a lawyer.

WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS

Lippman also on Tuesday proposed requiring anyone convicted of a felony or Penal Law misdemeanor to submit a DNA sample to the state's criminal database, where it would be stored permanently. Currently, only those convicted of most felonies and some violent or sex-related misdemeanors are subject to the requirement. A similar proposal has been championed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and was approved by the state Senate two weeks ago, but has stalled in the Assembly, where some members want to give defendants greater access to the database.

Lippman's proposal includes post-conviction access to the database for anyone who pleads guilty to a serious felony, though based upon a "somewhat stricter" showing than that required for defendants found guilty after a trial. The judge also wants to make explicit that courts have the authority to order comparisons of crime scene evidence and DNA samples in the database.

"The DNA data bank has proven to be a powerful tool for law enforcement, not only in identifying perpetrators but also in exonerating the innocent," Lippman said.

He proposed two additional measures aimed at preventing wrongful convictions; one would require that police interrogations in serious felony cases be videotaped and allow judges to render statements inadmissible if they are not recorded, and the second would allow photo identifications to be admitted into evidence only if the person who administered the array does not know the identity of the suspect.

AGE OF CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY

The chief judge on Tuesday also called for the creation of a new youth court that would try 16- and 17-year-olds facing non-violent criminal charges. Last year, Lippman called on the legislature to send those cases to Family Court, saying that teenagers are not mature enough to be treated as adults by the criminal justice system. Currently, New York and North Carolina are the only states in which 16 is the age of criminal responsibility; 11 other states try 17-year-olds in adult courts.

Some local government officials raised concerns that Lippman's original plan would cost too much, since Family Court cases cost up to 50 percent more than criminal proceedings. Lippman said the shift to Family Court remains his "long-term" goal.

The chief judge also announced a three-year effort to provide counsel for criminal defendants at their first court appearance in city, town and village courts and the creation of Immigration Resource Centers to help defendants and attorneys understand the consequences of criminal convictions on immigration status.

Finally, Lippman said he would create a task force to look into ways to make the state's commercial division more efficient. The panel will be co-chaired by Lippman's predecessor, Judith Kaye, and Martin Lipton of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.

(Reporting by Dan Wiessner)

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