Our firm focuses exclusively on bankruptcy and matters with a very close nexus to bankruptcy. We are extremely detail-oriented and thorough. This means we emphasize pre-petition planning as a way of avoiding post-petition problems.
However, we are not averse to litigation, and in some cases no amount of pre-bankruptcy planning can avoid it. In fact, we have had cases in which we filed bankruptcy papers for clients specifically to provoke litigation so we could resolve existing problems in the Bankruptcy Court. Here’s an example that illustrates this point:
We had a client with a small business, who was approached with an offer to redo the building on the premises. The people who were to do the work put him in touch with a lender. The lender arranged to finance the project, and our client put up the lot as security for the loan. Shortly after the loan documents were signed, the people who were to do the work disappeared without having done anything. Consequently, our client refused to make the monthly payments on the loan, and returned the portion of the loan proceeds he had received. The lender—who appeared to be in cahoots with the people who had failed to do any of the promised work—began foreclosure proceedings on the property. We filed Chapter 13 papers for the client not only to stop the foreclosure sale but also to challenge the legitimacy of the debt. The lender filed a proof of claim, to which we successfully objected. The lender appealed, and we won the appeal. At that point the lender gave up. The result was that a large debt was wiped out in its entirety.
Our firm requires detailed up-to-date knowledge of the law. Cases can be won or lost on the strength of argument, and arguments based on out-of-date case law are weak. Therefore, we regularly attend continuing legal education courses—most covering some area of bankruptcy law—and follow the latest developments through bankruptcy law journals and various bankruptcy related online sources.
As a consequence, although part of the intended audience of this blog is people who are new to bankruptcy, some of the posts deal with recondite topics. Therefore, whether you’re a bankruptcy ingénue, or a seasoned practitioner, I hope you will find posts that are interesting to you. By the way, while bankruptcy is a serious subject, I will try to include some humor in the posts to add a bit of entertainment to them.
Specific Practice Areas
- Chapter 7: for individuals, married couples and small businesses
- Chapter 13: for individuals and married couples
- Chapter 11: “Super 13s” for individuals and married couples, and Chapter 11s for small businesses
- Bankruptcy Litigation