Northern California Bankruptcy Lawyer

On The Bankruptcy Soapbox

The Soap Box

How To Pick A Bankruptcy Lawyer

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interview a bankruptcy lawyer

How do you pick a bankruptcy lawyer when you’ve never hired any lawyer and never before considered filing bankruptcy?

What do you ask a bankruptcy lawyer to determine if the lawyer is the right one for you? After all, the conversation has to move beyond “what does bankruptcy cost?”

Financial troubles are tough and bankruptcy can seem scary.

So, you want to find a lawyer who can make it easier. You need to know if bankruptcy is really the right thing for you.

But what do you ask a prospective lawyer to make your decision?

Interviewing a bankruptcy lawyer

Actually, it probably doesn’t matter what you ask.

It matters how the lawyer answers.

Here’s a starter set of questions to get the conversation going

1.  Do I have a meaningful alternative to bankruptcy?

Asking about alternatives to bankruptcy allows the lawyer to talk about the scope of your financial difficulties.  

It allows you to gauge whether the lawyer can only see you as a buyer for what he sells. Or, has the lawyer considered both issues and timing to see if you need bankruptcy.

In fact, most people who sit down with a bankruptcy lawyer really need bankruptcy.  They have ignored the signs that the situation is beyond repair for a long time.

So, the answer that bankruptcy is appropriate isn’t a black mark on the lawyer.  Inability to explain why the alternatives don’t work well is a negative.

2.  What’s the most serious complication for me?

Few cases are problem-free.  Whether it’s protecting assets, passing the means test, or finding the money to fund a Chapter 13,  almost every set of facts has bankruptcy challenges.

You want to know if the lawyer is forthcoming about the expected rough spots.  Can he talk candidly about what might be challenging in your case?

3.   How many cases like mine have you handled?

While the answer may be short, you do want to talk about the lawyer’s bankruptcy experience.  Generally, the larger portion of a lawyer’s work load that is bankruptcy, the better.

Bankruptcy is a recognized legal specialty and if your case has a complexity, experience is an asset on your bankruptcy team.

4.  Who will work on my case?

A bankruptcy legal team usually includes both a lawyer and staff.  Much of the work in preparing the all important schedules is routine.

What you want to avoid, however, is a business model where all the work and the analysis is done by those without a law degree.  Bankruptcy is not just “filling out forms”.   Each answer in the form has a legal consequence that’s important to your case.

Ask, too, how you and the lawyer will communicate when you have questions during the process.

5.  What is not included in your fee?

Those drowning in bills often think price is important in picking a lawyer.

From experience, about the only time I think it’s important is when the price is unreasonably low.  Either you aren’t getting much service at that price, or the lawyer can’t compete on quality and therefore cuts the fee.

Ask if lien avoidance or reaffirmation issues are extra.  Ask if there are costs beyond the court’s filing fee that you must pay.  Ask about representation should there be a trustee audit, a 2004 examination, or an adversary proceeding.

It’s attitude that matters

As I said at the top, these questions are as much about the lawyer’s approach to you and your case as they are about the answers.

  • Is the lawyer comfortable with you driving the agenda?
  • Can he/she explain admittedly complicated matters clearly in a way you understand?
  • Are your questions welcomed?

If communication between you and your lawyer  isn’t open and valued, there’s trouble ahead.  You need to be comfortable enough with the relationship to disclose the troubling or the embarrassing.  Otherwise, you and your lawyer are playing without a full deck.

It needs to be OK to say “I don’t understand” or “I’m worried”.  Otherwise, you may be setting off into the bankruptcy jungle without a current map or an adequate guide.

Don’t be afraid to leave an initial meeting with a lawyer without making a commitment.  If you are uncertain about the fit, think it over.

Or interview another lawyer.  Several data points will make things clearer.

Four Factors Drive The Cost Of Bankruptcy

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When you’re flat broke and thinking about bankruptcy, cheaper sure looks better.

If a lawyer will do your Chapter 7 for $600, what’s the point of paying $1000? Or even $2000?

Like answers to many legal questions, it depends.

Bankruptcy relief depends on your facts

Whether to file bankruptcy, or whether to file now, rather than later, depends on how the facts of your financial situation interact with bankruptcy law.

Your bankruptcy lawyer is charged with gathering those facts and analyzing them so that you get the most debt relief the system can offer.

If your bankruptcy lawyer doesn’t dig deep enough, or think broadly enough, you may hit avoidable snags in your case.

With the caveat that there is no direct and sure-fire connection between cost and quality, let’s talk about what it costs to escape from broke.

How to figure what you should pay

1.  The cheapest guy in town isn’t for you.  Chances are, he’s new to the field.  He’s dabbling.  He’s hoping to sell you something else along with a bankruptcy, or he’s outsourced the real work to someone with less training than he has.

Further, if you are looking for advice about finances, is the cut rate practitioner the one best suited to provide that perspective?

2.  The more that’s at stake, the better representation you need.

The larger the value of your assets, the more likely you need higher value legal help.  If the point of the bankruptcy is to save your house or end nasty big dollar litigation,  you need more legal firepower than if you are simply discharging old credit cards or medical bills.

3.  The more people involved with you in money matters, the better lawyer you need

Got business partners, assets owned with others, money set aside for children?  All of those situations trigger special parts of the bankruptcy code with possible results you or an inexperienced lawyer don’t anticipate.

4.  Who is chasing you?  

When your likely opponents in a bankruptcy case are heavy weights, you need to lawyer up.  Think IRS, criminal justice system, or well funded ex spouses.

The stronger your opposition, the more likely weaknesses in your bankruptcy case will be identified and exploited, to your detriment.

What legal fees should buy

When you hire a bankruptcy lawyer, you are buying familiarity with the body of bankruptcy law and the analytic skills to see how that law applies to the facts in your case.

The more you pay, the greater your entitlement to some hand holding in the form of answers to your questions, no matter how muddled or how frequent.

Price is not necessarily connected to good client service, but that is usually the case.  Low fees leave little room for interpersonal niceties or actual access to the lawyer.

How much to pay for bankruptcy

At the risk of falling back on cliches, it depends.

It depends on the cost of living where you are.  Legal fees are more expensive in San Francisco than they are in Redding or Susanville.

It depends on your situation.  Straightforward kind of debts, stand-alone finances, and few assets, the more likely the mid price practitioner can handle your case well.

It depends on the level of service you want and need to get through a tough patch.  If you are emotionally battered, unsure, or unwell, maybe you want to pay for more service rather than less.

Survey the legal market where you are.  Be prepared to interview and reject lawyers and law firms who can’t talk candidly about their experience, fees and costs.

And don’t think that a high fee necessarily means expert representation.

After all, it depends.

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Image courtesy of Flickr & Ryan Dickey 

 

Bankruptcy Questions Have Few Quick Answers

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The caller to my law office kept telling my assistant: I just want to ask  Cathy a question.

To which my assistant replied:  you need to first fill out our questionnaire and make an appointment.

But I don’t want a meeting, I just want to ask a question.

At which point, both sides of the call are frustrated.

The caller thinks he has a reasonable request.  The law office isn’t getting through to the caller that a quick answer isn’t possible.

And that’s because:  there are no quick answers to bankruptcy questions.

Or rather, there are no reliable quick answers about bankruptcy.

Bankruptcy answers depend on your facts

To provide an answer that is any good, a bankruptcy lawyer needs to get a bunch of facts about your situation.

Have you filed bankruptcy before?

Did you get a discharge?

How long have you lived in this district?  Where did you live before?

What do you own?  What’s the form of title?

How much money do you make?  How many people do you support?

Do you owe taxes or child support?

The list goes on.

A quick answer is risky

Good lawyering is about applying the law to the client’s facts.  Without facts, my advice is likely useless.

Or worse, dangerous.

It’s dangerous to the caller, because the answer, without all the facts, may not be right.

It’s dangerous to the lawyer, who has a legal responsibility to you to provide competent advice.  Even if the advice is free and even if you don’t hire the lawyer to represent you.

The undisclosed facts may lead to an entirely different conclusion.  And I don’t know the facts until I’ve asked a BUNCH of questions.

If I get it wrong, you may be able to sue me.

Legal advice online

Why you don’t want a bankruptcy lawyer who’ll fight for you

The importance of the facts is why relying on the internet for legal advice hold huge dangers.

Post a question to an online forum, and you select the facts that you think are important.  Or as much of the facts as you are willing to disclose in public.

Those facts may not be the ones that are critical to the answer.  And even if you provide good facts about some aspect of your situation, other facts may counteract the result.

Use the internet to get some legal education about bankruptcy as a whole.  Learn the bankruptcy vocabulary.  Figure out what documents a lawyer will need to provide good advice.

But take no action until you’ve laid those facts before a competent bankruptcy lawyer and answered a bunch of questions.

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Questions to ask a bankruptcy lawyer

Free bankruptcy advice

Considering bankruptcy

 

 

What Should Bankruptcy Cost?

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pay for bankruptcyPick the cheapest bankruptcy lawyer and it could really cost you.

How much time and skill does the cut-rate lawyer invest in your case?  Often, not enough to do the case right.

And the  extra cost of getting another lawyer to repair  a case gone bad is only half the problem. Not all the problems created by the bargain basement lawyer can be fixed.

Even when the case can be saved,  the clients will end up paying twice: one to the cheapo lawyer, and again to competent counsel to clean it up.

Undoubtedly, they’ll pay more than if  they’d paid a good lawyer to do it right the first time.

Bankruptcy mistakes

Right now, in my office we have three conversions from Chapter 11 to Chapter 7 involving significant real estate assets.

We have cases where big ticket assets were omitted.  We have cases where the initial attorney just didn’t persist with the debtor to get the schedules right, and ones where counsel didn’t explore the choice of chapter.

Almost without exception, the debtors chose counsel based on price.  They went with the lower price for their bankruptcy case, and they bought a rat’s nest.

Cost conscious only at the end

Why is it that notions of economy only surface after a client has wracked up tens of thousands of dollars in debt?

Many of the debtors gave more thought to credit card expenditures or purchases of investment real estate during the boom than they give to picking a bankruptcy lawyer.

The influx of lawyers to this field and the prevalence of lawyer advertising suggest bankruptcy law is a commodity.

Lawyers with no track record to tout or past clients to spread the word  compete on price.  If you can buy a $15 toaster, why pay $30? goes the thinking.

What a lawyer adds

The existence of non lawyer petition preparers and do-it-yourself books reinforce the idea that bankruptcy is more like playing Go Fish than contract bridge.

Bankruptcy no place for do-it-yourself

Then, there are the official forms, suggesting that filing bankruptcy is all about the paper and not about the disclosure the paper requires.

What the bankruptcy papers require

And disclosure is what the forms are all about, and the system wants disclosure because there may be consequences to the stuff disclosed.

Quality of counsel is not reliably correlated with price:  I’ve seen some utter newbie lawyers charging more than highly skilled veterans for an inferior product.  But capable counsel is seldom the cheapest.

So, my charge to those needing bankruptcy relief is to consider that hiring the least expensive lawyer is a poor bargain.

Figure how much should you pay for bankruptcy

Another time, I’ll talk about how to assess a lawyer’s suitability for your case.

Questions to ask a bankruptcy lawyer before you file

Image courtesy of purpleslog.

Bankruptcy No Place For DIY

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price tag public domainThe do- it- yourself spirit seems especially strong in bankruptcy courts these days.

Only it often comes with a big price tag.

Nearly 45% of the Central District CA Chapter 7 cases were filed by individuals doing it themselves.  The national rules committee drafted the new bankruptcy forms with the unrepresented in mind.

Why do people take such a momentous step as filing bankruptcy without an attorney?

They go it alone, without a lawyer, for three reasons:

  1. They assume they can’t afford a lawyer.
  2. They assume that there are no consequences for doing it badly.
  3. They assume it’s “just filing out forms”.
All of these assumptions are wrong.  But let’s look at the third assumption, that it’s “just filling out forms”.

What bankruptcy filing entails

Southern California bankruptcy lawyer Jay Fleischman outlined the steps in a bankruptcy case.  Each of those decisions is one a pro per ( a person representing themselves in court) has to make  to file their own bankruptcy case.

It’s a pretty daunting list.

You have to

  • decide if bankruptcy is the best choice;
  • choose a chapter;
  • list all your tangible and intangible assets and your property transfers
  • get the right credit counseling

An industry has sprung up to “serve” those bankruptcy filers who don’t want to do it entirely alone, but think they don’t need, or can’t afford a bankruptcy lawyer.  They’re called petition preparers.

Enter the petition preparer

It takes no training or competence to hang out a shingle as a petition preparer.  Anyone can call themselves a bankruptcy petition preparer.

A petition preparer is supposed to do nothing but type up the information provided by the debtor.  They are not supposed to explain the forms or the choices those forms require.  To do more than type is the unauthorized practice of law.

The wide spread harm that untrained preparers caused to their customers triggered special provisions in the 2005 bankruptcy “reform” law.  At least now they have to disclose their involvement in drafting the bankruptcy schedules.

Special local rules limit what a preparer can charge and require that they identify themselves on the cases they handle or, more often, mishandle.

Sometimes, to avoid exposure, they coach their clients to lie about their involvement in the case.

Just for the record:  lying in a bankruptcy case is never a good thing.

Exposed in public

So I get a  really mixed feeling when  a debtor appears at a 341 meeting in Oakland without a lawyer.

What happens when you go to court for bankruptcy

The trustees there ask the debtor to turn to Schedule C, read the code sections from the California Code of Civil Procedure  beside each asset they’ve claimed exempt and tell him how they chose that exemption.

The trustee usually gets a blank stare or some confused stammering.  The debtor has no idea how to answer.

Most people who have filed bankruptcy are scared to death about the first meeting of creditors anyway.  But this question from the trustee is designed to flush out the fact that either, the debtor had “help” with their petition that wasn’t disclosed, or that the preparer did more than they are legally allowed to.

The preparer obviously told the debtor what exemption choices there were, and selected exemptions for the client.

This scene is particularly painful, since badly done exemptions may cause unrecoverable damage to the debtor.

While it’s the petition preparer who has broken the law, it’s the debtor who may pay for the bad advice.

My advice:  confine your do-it-yourself inclinations to craft projects.  Get competent legal help before filing bankruptcy.

Without a lawyer you may find you can’t get out of bankruptcy, no matter the cost of remaining.

More

Botch your bankruptcy and lose your house

Questions to ask a bankruptcy lawyer

What should bankruptcy cost

Should you wait to file bankruptcy

 

Image courtesy of  Crisg and OpenClipArt

The Difference Between Good Bankruptcy Lawyer and Great Bankruptcy Lawyer

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question-markFinding the right bankruptcy lawyer may be the difference between a successful bankruptcy and a nightmare.

Choosing a lawyer you can talk to is critical.

You’ll be disclosing lots of information normally held confidential.

But there’s more.

It’s not just a lawyer you can tell your secrets to.

You need to find a lawyer willing to answer your questions, over and over, if necessary, until you understand the choices that you must make in filing bankruptcy.

Until you understand the issues and the consequences, you can’t play your position on the bankruptcy team.

Choices after deciding to file

Some things a client doesn’t have to truly understand to file bankruptcy: how the means test works, or doesn’t work, is one of them.

The debtor need only validate some of the information in the form.

But other bankruptcy issues require the client to make choices and perhaps confront risks.

Is the loan repayment to your parents a recoverable preference?

Does the recent use of your credit card make you susceptible to the charge of incurring debt by fraud?

Are you at risk of a UST challenge to your Chapter 7 case as an abuse?

Decisions surrounding these issues are, in the end, the client’s decision. The factors are complex, and in this day of “new” bankruptcy law, sometimes uncertain.

The client needs to feel absolutely comfortable asking their counsel to explain the issue, assess the risks, and explore alternatives with them.

The lawyer needs to be capable of explaining without jargon or presumption.

The bankruptcy problem your lawyer can’t handle

So I would add to the list of qualities in superior bankruptcy counsel: openness to the layman’s questions.

Great bankruptcy lawyers are willing to restate and reanalyze the options until the client understands.  You need to feel comfortable saying you don’t understand and asking that the lawyer try another way to say it.

A lawyer who is not capable of making you a partner in the conduct of the case may end up excluding you from considerations that rightfully belong to you, the client.

More

Questions to ask a prospective bankruptcy lawyer

What should bankruptcy cost

Can you afford the bankruptcy alternatives

Why You Don’t Want A Bankruptcy Attorney To Fight For You

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3450729206_c8aaf9ceaaWe Fight For You! screamed the on-line headline for a bankruptcy law firm.

While I applaud the firm’s energy and commitment, I question their focus.

Filing for bankruptcy shouldn’t result in a fight.

It’s a remedy, not a rumble.

If you’ve struggled with yourself about with the decision to file bankruptcy, actually doing it may seem mundane by comparison. No fights necessary.

So, I thought about what was wrong with the “bankruptcy as a fight” analogy.

Turns out, it was simple.

My motto:  We Analyze So There Won’t Be A Fight.

Kinda nerdy, isn’t it.  It lacks drama, and doesn’t suggest any vivid photos.

But it represents much better client service.

What a bankruptcy lawyer does for you

A skilled bankruptcy lawyer gathers more facts about you, your debts, your assets, your prospects, your marriage, your income and your dependents than you can imagine.

Having determined what brings you to consider bankruptcy, the lawyer assesses three big things:

  1. Which chapter of bankruptcy furthers your goals
  2. Is there anything that creditors or trustees could challenge to keep you from your goal
  3. What things could make it easier to reach that goal.

Your lawyer should be looking for those issues which might provoke a fight, and figuring out how to keep you out of a tussle with any party in the bankruptcy system.

Tools for avoiding conflicts include better information, choice of timing and refining your goals.

A good bankruptcy attorney uses each tool to avoid the fight.

What fights arise in bankruptcy

The most common disputes in bankruptcy cases, Chapter 7’s and Chapter 13’s, revolve around

  • Values of assets
  • Means test income and deductions
  • Transfers of assets made before filing

Careful collection of information and analysis of that information will tell a good bankruptcy lawyer where disputes might arise.

You and your lawyer need to discuss any points of possible conflict and find the best way around them.

Bankruptcy fights I love

The only kind of fight in bankruptcy that I relish is the fight that a creditor picks with my client.  The fight usually arises when the creditor does something the law doesn’t allow.  Often it involves failing to honor the automatic stay.

The stay requires each and every creditor to stop collection action against the person who has filed bankruptcy and against the person’s property.  In Chapter 13, it also protects guarantors and co signors on consumer debts.

Some creditors are too pig headed, ill organized, or simply spiteful to honor the stay.  I love a fight to get creditors to do what the law provides.  My clients are entitled to the peace the law contemplates.

Most bankruptcies are a snooze not a fight

A well thought out bankruptcy case is generally without conflict or dispute.

Carefully prepared schedules tell the whole story.  The trustee reads them, sees no issues, and moves on.

And that’s how it ought to be.  It’s not Fight Night.  It’s more like yoga.  You work hard, but you leave without bruises.

A bankruptcy lawyer friend says her motto is “Do it right, and avoid the fight”.  Suits me to a T.

Read more

How to find a good bankruptcy lawyer

What you have to do to file a bankruptcy case

What happens at the bankruptcy hearing

Image courtesy of Kate.Gardiner.

 

The Bankruptcy Problem Your Lawyer Can’t Fix

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ThreatThe problem even the best bankruptcy lawyer can’t fix is the one you hide.

Sometimes  it’s a problem you don’t want to face yourself, or a debt your spouse doesn’t know about.

Maybe it’s a claim you hope to bring after the bankruptcy.

You’re tempted just to say nothing to your bankruptcy lawyer.  Who will know?

Think again.

When the truth is threatening

You’ve probably heard lots of the myths about bankruptcy floating around.

Then there are the stories from people who knew someone whose friend’s cousin  filed bankruptcy some time back.

He didn’t tell everything and it worked out.

Maybe or maybe not.

People visiting a bankruptcy lawyer for the first time often are tempted to conceal debts, property, or transactions from their lawyer in the belief that if the lawyer had the facts, they would be barred from bankruptcy relief. That is seldom so.

Your lawyer can’t protect you from problems created by secrets you keep. With all the facts, your lawyer can provide meaningful advice that maximizes the relief available in bankruptcy.

Hide your secret from your bankruptcy lawyer and you may have a problem far bigger than the one you’re trying to hide.

Full disclosure is the price of relief

Bankruptcy is grounded in full disclosure to the court and creditors.  In exchange for transparency about your finances, you get a discharge of your dischargeable debts.

More importantly, your bankruptcy papers are signed under penalty of perjury.  Get caught in a deliberate lie and you may lose the opportunity for a discharge of all of your current debts.  One of the grounds for denial of discharge is “false oath”.

Perjury is a federal crime.  You could find yourself the guest of Uncle Sam for up to five years.

The time-worn saying in bankruptcy is that it’s the X’s that will get you:  the ex-spouse, the ex-partner, or the ex-friend.

Those folks may have a motive to call you out in court.

The trustee has a right to examine your tax returns, your bank statements, and your check register.

Secrets are hard to keep.

Get your money’s worth from your lawyer

Usually the things people hope to keep from me are penny-ante things.  When it is disclosed, I often find that what the client was worrying about  isn’t really a worry at all.

When the secret does present a complication, we can look for a work around:

  • undoing the transfer,
  • filing Chapter 13,
  • waiting to file til the secret is no longer a problem.

But I can’t fix things I don’t know about.

Start by making full disclosure to your bankruptcy lawyer. Your lawyer is on your side.

Image courtesy of Sandilya Theuerkauf and Wikimedia.

When Bankruptcy Lawyers Get The Basics Wrong

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The Lawyers Have Bankruptcy Wrong?I cringe when a client says that they’ve researched bankruptcy on the internet before making an appointment with me.

For every sound, balanced, nuanced article on consumers and their debts, there are bunches of sloppy, inaccurate sites, often trying to make bankruptcy so frightening that you’ll buy whatever they’re selling.

But when a group of bankruptcy lawyers, trying, I’d assume, to provide useful information on bankruptcy get it so wrong, I’m perplexed.

Bankruptcy Home, which identifies itself as a group advertising site for bankruptcy lawyers, has community property absolutely wrong.  At least California community property, which is all I’m licensed to deal with.

When one spouse in a community property state files bankruptcy, the site says, the debtor must include the value of one half of the community property.  Wrong, wrong, wrong!

I don’t know whether these lawyers haven’t read the bankruptcy code or haven’t read the site that they pay for.  Neither alternative is flattering to them.

All Community Property Comes In

Here’s what  section 541 of the bankruptcy code says:

 (a) The commencement of a case …creates an estate. Such estate is comprised of all the following property…

(2) All interests of the debtor and the debtor’s spouse in community property as of the commencement of the case that is—

 (A) under the sole, equal, or joint management and control of the debtor; or
(B) liable for an allowable claim against the debtor, or for both an allowable claim against the debtor and an allowable claim against the debtor’s spouse, to the extent that such interest is so liable.
So, while the spouses may each get one half of the community property upon divorce, in bankruptcy, all of the community property comes into the estate.
In exchange for bringing all of the community property into the bankruptcy estate, all of the prefiling community claims are discharged and the non filing spouse’s interest in future community property is protected from pre filing community claims.  We call that the community property discharge.
I know it’s complex, but the complexity of community property doesn’t lie in what comes into the estate, as stated by Bankruptcy Home.  To be credible, bankruptcy lawyers need to get the basics right, and to acknowledge that there are  further complexities.
I first wrote this piece in 2012.  I checked the Bankruptcy Home site before republishing this post. That site remains uncorrected.

Image courtesy of Tambako the Jaguar.

Free Bankruptcy Advice: 5 Reasons Why I’m Not Free

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free bankruptcy consultationThere’s no free initial bankruptcy consultation in my office.  Unlike many, we charge for that initial meeting with a lawyer.

(There’s no free lunch either.)

That makes us different from lots of other bankruptcy lawyers.

Different enough to offend a prospective client who called up this week.  He was unwilling to pay for a consultation, and stormed off and wrote a negative review of the firm,  without ever having talked to me.

Apparently I can’t be any good at bankruptcy law if I want to be paid for my expertise.

So, for the man so offended, here are the reasons I charge for that initial consultation.

 1.  Maybe you don’t need to file bankruptcy

I don’t want you to file bankruptcy for me to make a living.

I want to be free to say to a client:  you don’t need me. [Read more…]

643 Bair Island Road
Suite 403
Redwood City, CA 94063
Phone: (650) 694-4700

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