Twenty years ago this month, Soapbox’s parent website, Bankruptcy In Brief, went live with four pages of basic bankruptcy information.
My law partner quietly thought writing about law for the internet was off base.
My lawyer colleagues thought I was giving away the store.
I persisted (which wasn’t then a catch phrase) because I was convinced that the public and the profession benefited from a better understanding of the law, starting with the little corner of the law in which I specialize.
Each page I wrote suggested another page that expanded or contrasted with what I’d just written. And I just kept writing. Bankruptcy in Brief now sports nearly 200 pages of information about insolvency, law, process, and how to decide if bankruptcy is right for you.
And I know it worked, because readers write, call, and arrive at my office clutching pages from Bankruptcy in Brief.
When negative changes to bankruptcy law gained strength in Congress, I found I had strong opinions that didn’t fit on Bankruptcy in Brief, where I sought to be explanatory and unbiased. So in 2004, this site was born, and I climbed up on my Bankruptcy Soapbox to advocate for sound bankruptcy policy, tell stories, and expose weaknesses in how bankruptcy actually works.
All the while, my primary focus has been on helping the public understand what their legal options are when faced with financial adversity.
So, I’m taking a brief moment for self congratulations, before I get back to the next post from here on my Soapbox.
