BankruptcyBill.us

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Bankruptcy Billables is an overview of bankruptcy-relevant coverage and discussion from various law-related blogs.

Holding a J.D. and an International Affairs M.A. from Marquette University, Matt Leichter is an attorney licensed in Wisconsin and New York (two months as of tomorrow!).  He speaks Japanese and focuses on comparative and international law, as well as international business.b

Law Shucks

• Kaye Scholer Screws Up, Apologizes
• Cadwalader Trying to Prove Us Wrong

Credit Slips

• De-Tour: CSD Nudity on the Exotic Fringe
• Debt and the People, Part I: The Cold
• Avoid Chapter 11 at All Cost!!!
• Half-Empty or Half-Full: The February Bankruptcy Figures
• The Ban on “Universal Default”
• Half a (Rotten) Loaf is Worse Than None at All: The Fate of the CFPA
• Fringe Banking, Financial Distress, and the Consumer Financial Protection Industry

WSJ Bankruptcy Beat

• Hecker’s Troubles Signed, Unsealed, Delivered
• The Daily Docket: Examiner Finds Claims Against Lehman Execs
• Drama Continues for Death Row
• Experts: Sitcom Logic Won’t Work in Distressed Companies
• The Daily Docket: Freedom Wins OK on Chapter 11 Plan
• Lenny Dykstra Wants Bankruptcy Case Dismissed
• Justice Department stays out of Rubashkin Case
• The Daily Docket: Bankruptcy for Detroit?
• Miami Couple Accused of Running Ponzi Scheme
• The Daily Docket: Consumer Bankruptcy Filings on the Rise
• Trump Says Bankruptcy Is Not Part of His Brand

Going Concern

• Ernst & Young Was ‘Comfortable’ with Lehman’s Shady Accounting
• It’s Hard Out There for an Auditor

At long last, we’re ready to announce the winner and runner-up of Bankruptcy Bill’s Bankruptcy Song Contest!

Thanks to everyone who submitted an bankruptcy song, to everyone who voted and shared their comments and to illustrator Gideon Kendall for suggesting the cartoon announcement prize idea.

Also thanks to our sponsors for their support of the first-ever (to our knowledge) Bankruptcy Song Contest and for collectively making a donation to the National Consumer Law Center in the amount of $25 for each song submitted (for which we received a nice thank you note from the NCLC’s Executive Director):

• Bruce Weiner (Rosenberg Musso & Weiner) – NYBankruptcyNet (Brooklyn, NY)
• George Haines & David Krieger (Haines & Krieger) (Las Vegas, NV)
• Russell A. Demott – Charleston Bankruptcy Blog (Charleston, SC)
• Nancy Rapoport (nancyrapoport.blogspot.com), the Gordon Silver Professor of Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law (UNLV)

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2nd Place

Congratulations also to Arlene Robins of Woodbury, NY for her wonderful submission “BANKRUPTCY WIFE’S LAMENT”. Arlene will receive a t-shirt (or other item from our fabulous catalog of BAPCPA Man and Bankruptcy Bill merchandise on Zazzle.  (Note:  Arlene is the wife of good-humored Long Island bankruptcy attorney Craig Robins, who also has an excellent song entry titled “DEBT-FREE GIRL”.)

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The Bankruptcy Song Submissions

Once again, here are the song entries for Bankruptcy Bill’s Bankruptcy Song Contest:

1.  “AMEND IT MY WAY” by Judge Sheri Bluebond (United States Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California)

2.  CABARET” by Judge Sheri Bluebond (United States Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California) (Click song title or scroll down the page to see lyrics.)

3.  “DON’T CRY FOR ME HOUSEHOLD FINANCE” by Judge Sheri Bluebond (United States Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California) 

4.  “DEBTS IN WRONG PLACES” by Judge Alan S. Trust (United States Bankruptcy Judge, Eastern District of New York)

5.  “‘TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE FILING” by Mark Sippel, Esq. (Sippel & Carroll PLLC (Kingman, AZ))

6.  “PHARAOH OBAMA – LET THE DEBTORS GO” by Mark Sippel, Esq. (Sippel & Carroll PLLC (Kingman, AZ))

7.  “THE BANKRUPTCY ABUSE SONG” by Mark Sippel, Esq. (Sippel & Carroll PLLC (Kingman, AZ))

8.  “DEBT-FREE GIRL” by Craig Robins, Esq. (Woodbury, NY)

9.  “BANKRUPTCY WIFE’S LAMENT” by Arlene Robins (Woodbury, NY)

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BONUS!

And if you just can’t get enough bankruptcy music, CLICK HERE to hear “Bankruptcy Lover“ by Bankruptcy Bill & The Fresh Starts.

Thanks to the Center for Responsible Lending for posting a great cartoon from Pixton.com that calls out the weakness of the arguments being made against the creation of a Consumer Finance Protection Agency.

BLT (Bankruptcy Lawyer Topics) is a periodic review and comparison of consumer bankruptcy topics being covered on bankruptcy lawyer blogs.

Holding a J.D. and an International Affairs M.A. from Marquette University, Matt Leichter is an attorney licensed in Wisconsin and New York.  He speaks Japanese and focuses on comparative and international law, as well as international business.

• Click on BK Lawyer Blogs for a state-by-state list of bankruptcy lawyers with their own blogs.
• Have a blog or know a good blog post you think should be included? Or a suggestion for a future BLT theme?  Send an e-mail to BLT [at] bankruptcybill [dot] us with the link.
• Suggestion to bankruptcy lawyers with blogs: Make sure to include a “Search” function somewhere on your blog.  It makes it easier to find topical posts on your blog and increases the likelihood that a post from your blog will be included in BLT.

(In reverse order!)

GENERAL

American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI) Bankruptcy Blog Exchange

• Shortcomings of Credit CARD Act
• New Consumer Credit Card Rules Take Effect
• Eighty Percent Interest on a Credit Card
• ¡MORE!

Bankruptcy Law Network

• How Will The New Credit Card Laws Affect Me?
• Will New Credit Card Rules Cause a Spike in Bankruptcy?

CreditSlips.org

• Reflections on Credit CARD Act Day

Consumer Law & Policy Blog

• New Credit Card Law Effective Tomorrow (Monday, February 22)

WISCONSIN

Jamie Miller, Esq. (Miller & Miller, LLC) – Milwaukee Bankruptcy Attorney Blog (Milwaukee, WI)

• Soon You Will Really Know What It Really Takes to Pay Off Your Credit Card Debt

***SEE MORE BLOG POSTS FROM BANKRUPTCY LAWYERS AROUND THE U.S.*** (more…)

Bankruptcy Bill is pleased to welcome the Credit CARD Act of 2009, which went effective today, February 22, 2010, with an appropriate animated video commentary by Mark Fiore (www.MarkFiore.com).

Update 2/23/10:  Forgot to mention that we saw this video posted originally on the Center for Responsible Lending website:

Time to “restructure” your social life again for Bankruptcy Bill’s favorite new event to hit the underground bankruptcy scene… Turnaround Underground.  (Here’s the Reuters article about the last event.)

The February issue of the ABI Journal features another humorous Chapter 8 column by the ABI’s resident bankruptcy humorists Scott K. Brown (Lewis & Roca LLP, Phoenix) and Eric M. Van Horn (Rochelle McCullough LLP, Dallas).

Scott and Eric’s column, “Seven Lessons from 2009″, covers topics including professional fees in government sponsored bankruptcies, using a bankruptcy judge’s letter to the local bar to develop business, attending and organizing a panel for an ABI conference, and the link between the global financial crisis, the letter “G”, and the number “7.”

Email Scott (sbrown@lrlaw.com) or Eric (evanhorn@romclawyers.com) for a copy of the article if you do not have your ABI Journal handy

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Whenever a celebrity files for bankruptcy, there’s a bankruptcy lawyer representing that celebrity.  Who are they and where do they come from?

Bankruptcy Bill has put together a list below of the bankruptcy lawyers for each celebrity bankruptcy (to the extent we can find the info).  If we’ve missed any lawyers or any worthy celebrities, please email bill [at] bankruptcybill.us to let us know, or just add a comment to this post.

Thanks to the following folks for supporting this post, each of whom is a celebrity in their own right in the bankruptcy world:

• Eugene Melchionne, Esq. – ConsumerBankruptcyTips.com (Waterbury, CT) – Connecticut State Chairman of the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys and Current President of the Bankruptcy Law Network.

• Bill McLeod (McLeod Law Offices) – McLeod Law Blog (Boston, MA)

• Christine Wilton, Esq. – Los Angeles Bankrkuptcy Law Monitor (Los Angeles, CA)

• Kent Anderson Law – Oregon Debt Relief Weblawg and Debt Law Network (Eugene, OR)

• Cathy Moran, Esq. – BankruptcyMastery.com and On the Bankruptcy Soapbox (Mt View, CA) (aka Silicon Valley)

• Gailyn Wink & Michael Wink – Wink & Wink, P.C. (Denver, Co)

• Professor Nancy Rapoport – Blog: http://nancyrapoport.blogspot.com (Las Vegas, NV) Gordon Silver Professor of Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, with specialties in bankruptcy ethics, ethics in governance, and the depiction of lawyers in popular culture.  She’s also the author of the book Enron: Corporate Fiascos and Their Implications (with Jeffrey Van Niel) and appeared in the movie Enron:  The Smartest Guys in the Room.

And now, without further ado, is the first ever….

ALPHABETICAL LIST OF CELEBRITIES & THEIR BANKRUPTCY LAWYERS

Notably, two lawyers appear twice on this list.  Joseph Eisenberg apparently served as bankruptcy counsel to both actor Lorenzo Lamas and to Motley Crue frontman Vince Neil.  And big firm bankruptcy lawyer Debra Grassgreen served as debtor’s counsel to heavyweight boxing champ Mike Tyson and his company and also was lead counsel for the Creditors Committee in the bankruptcy of rap music star Marion “Suge” Knight.

B

Baldwin, Stephen

• Bruce Weiner, Esq. (Rosenberg Musso & Weiner) – NYBankruptcyNet (Brooklyn, NY)

Bracco, Lorraine

Buckner, Bill

C

Canseco, Jose

• Gregory Emerson, Esq. (Los Angeles, CA)
  

Corbin, Barry

• St. Clair Newbern III, Esq. (Ft Worth, TX)

(more…)

*Do you have a good bankruptcy-related idea you want to write about, but it’s…

• too experimental for your professional practice blog? Try it out here.
• too niche for Above The Law? We want to read it.
• too frivolous for the ABI Journal? We want to publish it.
• too much career risk to write it publicly? We’ll let you use a pen name.

The Editorial Team at Bankruptcy Bill is looking for new writers and for writers with new ideas to add more flavor to the  bankruptcy community and help build on existing bankruptcy culture.  Humorous, serious, personal, analytical—whatever it may be, we’re interested.

*E-mail Bill [at] BankruptcyBill.us and tell us (or show us) your new idea.

We already have Bankruptcy Bill, BAPCPA Man, bankruptcy haiku and bankruptcy music along with BLT (Bankruptcy Lawyer Topics) and Bankruptcy Billables.  But there’s so much more that can be done!

We know there are plenty of other good ideas out there and we’re hoping to tap the braintrust that is the community of people connected to bankruptcy and see what we can come up with.

Think of it as “America’s Got Talent“…….for the bankruptcy world.

*Questions?  Ideas? Email Bill [at] BankruptcyBill.us to discuss.

Elizabeth Warren on The Daily Show discusses the need for Wall Street reform.  See her previous appearance on the show.

Turns out Wednesday’s Turnaround Underground event was covered by Reuters.  Nice quotes from some of the organizers including Arent Fox’s Adrienne Blankley and Neiger LLP’s Edward Neiger.

Here’s the article link:  http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60R18Q20100128?feedType=RSS&feedName=everything&virtualBrandChannel=11563

Watch this space for details on the next event.

I just checked the PageRank for Bankruptcy Bill and apparently we moved up from a PageRank 4 to a PageRank 5 website.  Yippity doo!

What does this mean exactly?  We’re not entirely sure, but it sounds pretty good.

Then again, Abovethelaw.com comes up as PageRank 4 if you check their site.  And they must get exponentially more traffic and visibility than Bankruptcy Bill.

If any readers have insights and perspectives to share on what this all means, any comments and discussion are welcome.

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Bankruptcy Billables is an overview of bankruptcy-relevant coverage and discussion from various law-related blogs.

Holding a J.D. and an International Affairs M.A. from Marquette University, Matt Leichter is an attorney licensed in Wisconsin and New York.  He speaks Japanese and focuses on comparative and international law, as well as international business.

Law Shucks

• CEO Blames Lawyers for Company’s Bankruptcy

WSJ Bankruptcy Beat

• Maine Sends Hamstrung Negotiator to FairPoint Talks
• The Daily Docket: Air America Signs Off
• If at First You Don’t Succeed, Open Your Wallet
• Tribune Gets Bonus Jitters as Payday Nears
• The Daily Docket: Bankruptcy for MGM?
• Ex-Football Star Facing Bankruptcy, Foreclosure
• The Daily Docket: W.R. Grace Seeks New Loan
• Bankruptcy Gets Starring Role on Bravo
• The Daily Docket: JAL Launches Restructuring
• Hecker Accused of Concealing Assets from Bankruptcy Court

Creditslips.org

• There May Be More Financially Distressed Small Business Owners Than You Think
• On Break Up Fees
• How Many Bankruptcy Appeals?
• Chapter 11 Costs — Help?
• Life Imitates Art (or at Least My Final Exam)
• Usury and Securitization
• A Special Bankruptcy Court
• Visa Does Not Issue Cards or Extend Credit.

Going Concern

• Who Wants to Buy Nic Cage’s Haunted House?

Above The Law

• Morning Docket: 01.14.10
• Bankruptcy Judge to the Rescue of Poor Old Lady/Law School Grad
• Job of the Week: Bankruptcy Baller

Did we miss a good recent bankruptcy-related post on another blog?  E-mail bill [at] bankruptcybill [dot] us to let us know.

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Bill McLeod is a Boston-based bankruptcy attorney, representing creditors and debtors with over 15 years of experience. You can learn more about this and read more of his blog posts at www.mcleodlawoffices.com. Follow him on Twitter.  Find him on Facebook.

In recent months, I’ve been hearing from and speaking with attorneys young and old who express a desire to practice consumer bankruptcy law. Only some express a desire to enter into a practice area that is evolving, intellectually fascinating, and in this economy extraordinarily relevant. Virtually (but not) all express their belief that this is one practice area that is expected to grow in the coming years. Some mention that as the only motivation to consider it. I guess they have mortgage payments too.

If you’re considering changing practice areas, adding practice areas, or entering the consumer bankruptcy arena as a newly minted attorney fresh off the bar exam lawyer, here’s my…

Top Ten Things You Need to Know Before You Become a Bankruptcy Lawyer

1. Own a copy of the bankruptcy code. If you do not have a copy of the bankruptcy code and you’re already practicing (or perhaps better said, think you’re practicing) bankruptcy law, you’re already doing a bad job. Actually, you’re flirting with a malpractice claim. I have two: one at the office, and one which is always in my brief case, and my brief case is almost always with me (except when I leave it home). In addition to owning it, you should read it.

2. Never forget the basics. Attorneys have rules. You cannot lie, nor can you help a client lie. You cannot steal, nor may you help a client steal. You cannot violate your oath. There is no “winking” in bankruptcy. (more…)

Came across this great video of comedian Tim Clue talking about debt, credit cards and bill collectors on the blog of Oklahoma bankruptcy lawyer Dan Nunley.