I’m not usually at a loss for words, but I’m certainly less than excited about the word “consumer”. As a moniker for our potential clients, it’s inadequate. After all, how perverse to identify them by a trait we’d like to change, consuming. Yet, I’m struggling for another word. “Debtors” is a word the public confuses […]
What Are We Worth As Bankruptcy Lawyers?
I sat with a new client discussing his bankruptcy options, puzzling how to price a Chapter 7 that’s fair to me and fair to the client. To the client, it no doubt looked like a “simple” Chapter 7: a job, a couple of pieces of underwater property, no taxes, no spouse, no sweat, right? To […]
Tell Them Apart: Exempt and Exclude
New and not so new bankruptcy lawyers muddle the difference between “exempt” and “exclude“. It makes a world of difference. You have to make the call when listing property of the bankruptcy estate, usually various kinds of retirement assets. All of the debtor’s assets and legal rights come into the estate. Exemptions allow you to […]
Unfinished Business Of Learning The Law
Every legal seminar needs an extra day, in solitude, to internalize what you’ve “learned”. At the NACBA Fall Workshops last weekend, Jay repeated the old saw that a workshop is worthwhile if you bring home one good idea. He told our group in the Business of Bankruptcy Law tract that we aimed to provide […]
NACBA Workshops A Real High For Bankruptcy Lawyers
The content and the company at NACBA’s fall workshops has me flying. I’ve come off two days in Colorado Springs, making presentations on the means test and on applications for compensation and hosting the Business of Bankruptcy track with New York bankruptcy lawyer Jay Fleischman . The energy and curiosity of the newer bankruptcy lawyers […]
Why you should want your competition to become better bankruptcy lawyers
Sounds counter intuitive, doesn’t it? It should be easier to be a stand out if all the bankruptcy lawyers around you are Lilliputians. Yet I second Jay Fleischman’s wish for more good bankruptcy lawyers around me. And I think that the attitude I’ve encountered among some newcomers to the field, that they won’t share anything […]
Did You Forget Bankruptcy’s Magic Words?
We have an incantation that, uttered when you file the bankruptcy schedules, protects us from certain harm. Or at least awkward admissions. Remember? Try saying : Disputed! Unliquidated! This spell allows you to disclose, notice, and discharge creditor claims without admitting that the debtor is liable or without determining the amount of the claim. […]
