BankruptcyBill.us

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.

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.

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…)

I often talk with lawyers about their marketing strategies and client materials, and it occurred to me (amidst my new state of parenthood) that there’s a good parallel between effective parenting and effective client communications.

Lest you think I’m inclined to speak from my own one-week’s worth of parenting experience, I should mention that I have the benefit of wisdom and experience of my own mom, who is a social worker with a specialty in child therapy.  She often likes to point out that everything children say and do can essentially be boiled down to two questions they are perpetually asking:

1.  “Do you love me?” and

2.  “Who’s in charge here?”

I was recently contemplating this idea following a conversation with a bankruptcy lawyer who had asked me to review some of his client info materials.  I realized he was falling into the classic lawyer trap of trying to explain too much, and I was trying to figure out a framework for helping him review his materials through a new lens.  That’s when this idea popped into my head:

Potential bankruptcy clients are essentially asking two questions:

1.  “What can I keep?” and

2.  “Can I trust you?”

I therefore propose that bankruptcy lawyers should gear their pre-retention client communications to answering these two questions in various ways.  Anything more detailed and in-depth can be discussed in person.  But you need to respond to these two questions to get someone comfortable enough to retain you and avoid the pitfall of overwhelming them with legal information and jargon.

This is, of course, just my theory.  So if you agree, disagree or have another take on bankruptcy clients and/or parenting theory, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments section of this post.

And if you want to discuss off-line or would like assistance with your own marketing materials, feel free to contact me at:  steven [at] bankruptcybill.us.

A nice profile about us by Charleston, South Carolina bankruptcy attorney Russell A. DeMott just went live on the Bankruptcy Law Network’s site.  Click below to have a look-see:

• Bankruptcy Bill and BAPCPA Man:  Cartoons come to bankruptcy

http://www.bankruptcylawnetwork.com/2009/11/02/bankruptcy-bill-and-bapcpa-man-cartoons-come-to-bankruptcy/

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The October issue of the American Bankruptcy Institute Journal has an entertaining and humorous tribute to Reader’s Digest, in honor of its recent bankruptcy filing, written by Dallas attorney Eric Van Horn who regularly writes for the ABI Journal’s ”Chapter 8″ humor column.

The tribute provides Reader’s Digest-style synopses of events leading up to recent media and celebrity bankruptcies, along with a clever take on the leveraged buyout.  If you are an ABI member, it is the Sideshow article that is part of the Chapter 8 humor column; otherwise look for it on Westlaw or Lexis (although we encourage all bankruptcy professionals to join the ABI).

Eric Van Horn can also be contacted for a copy of the article at chapter8humor@gmail.com.

Here’s an interesting post by Jayne Navarre, managing director of lawgravity.com, (re-posted with permission).  Jayne consults on Internet marketing and communications for law firms. She coaches lawyers and marketers on the nuances necessary to succeed in social media, social networking and search optimization on the Web.  She blogs at www.virtualmarketingofficer.com and can be reached at jln@lawgravity.com.

I just dropped an idea bomb over on the Legal Marketing Association’s peer-to-peer social network, LMA Connect; it’s a members only community so I can’t post the link. However, it’s so big –at least in my mind– that I thought I’d share it with my blog readers with a caveat “you heard it here, first.”

I think law firm web sites should host banner and skyscraper ads for their clients. For free, of course.

It may help if I set up the story.

(Click here to read the rest of the post on Jayne’s blog.)

Update 9.17.09

There’s a thoughtful and entertaining article in the September 2009 Issue of the ABI Journal titled “Restructuring the Misperception of Lawyers:  Another Task for Bankruptcy Professionals” written by Nancy Rapoport (Gordon Silver Professor of Law at UNLV’s William S. Boyd Law School and the author of the book Enron: Corporate Fiascos and Their Implications), and by bankruptcy lawyer and humorist Eric Van Horn.

However, it turns out that while we received permission from the authors to re-post the article here, we do not in fact have permission from the ABI to re-post the article.  So, after further consultation with our own in-house intellectual property counsel, IP Aileen, we have decided that the prudent course of action would be to remove the article from this site.

If you’d still like to read the article (and it is a good one), please fee free to e-mail Eric Van Horn at chapter8humor [at] gmail [dot] com and he’ll be happy to e-mail you a copy.  (It’s either that or shell out $300 for ABI membership to get your own copy of the ABI Journal.)

(Click here to tell the ABA Journal if you think the Bankruptcy Bill site (including the Bankruptcy BillBAPCPA Man cartoons, bankruptcy haiku and the “Bankruptcy Lover” song) should be included in the Top 100 law blogs:  http://www.abajournal.com/blawgs/blawg100_submit ) and

Two nice mentions of the Bankruptcy Bill site:

1. A very flattering post by LA-based bankruptcy lawyer and BAPCPA Man fan Christine Wilton, Esq. who writes the Los Angeles Bankruptcy Law Monitor.  Here’s a clip:

Considering the negative stigma around bankruptcy law and in light of our nation’s economic woes, these cartoons are a refreshing departure.  They’re easy to read and understand.  They take the law and break it down into layman’s terms; a gift I rather admire.

We’re also pleased that Christine was moved to compose her own bankruptcy haiku.  Always good to see bankruptcy lawyers releasing their inner poets.

2. An  appreciative mention of our recent fantasy football/structured finance commentary by NYU Professor of Political Science Josh Tucker on The Monkey Cage, a blog written by a group of political science professors.  (Full disclosure: Josh is not only my cousin but also manager of Cluck U which competes against the BAPCPA Men in the Dzhankoye fantasy football league.)

What do General Mills and the mortgage industry have in common?

The both like to take crap, re-package it and label it as something healthy.

Today on my way to work outside of Grand Central Station I was handed a sample General Mills “Fiber One” oats & chocolate bar with a wrapper indicating “35% Daily Value of Fiber.”  When I opened up the package, though, it was your basic chewy granola bar full of chocolate chips, high maltose corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, etc.  All in a nice shiny package.  Kids junk food repackaged for adults.

It occurred to me that’s the same approach that the mortgage and banking industry took to finance.  Take a bunch of subprime loans, package them together, get the ratings agencies to label them as something healthy-sounding like “AAA,” and then sell them off to the public.

It also occurred to me that, despite all the hand-wringing over that process with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, we still continue to allow the same pattern to continue in various aspects in our lives (and probably still in the finance industry for that matter).

Perhaps a more appropriate General Mills analogy would be how they treat oat bran in general.  Some studies apparently show some sort of correlation between oat bran and lower cholesterol.  I think the study may have even be discredited by now, or maybe just qualified in a variety of ways.  Whatever it is, General Mills has aggressively applied the transitive property to sugar-filled cereals like Honey Nut Cheerios (and regular Cheerios, for that matter, which has a lot of sugar in it) to claim that eating them is a good way to help lower your cholesterol.

The reality of course is that eating those cereals is no more likely to lower your cholesterol than it is to make a pool of subprime mortgages a safe bet.  And getting Moody’s to give a “AAA” rating to Froot Loops isn’t going to change the fact that they’re no more than rings of sugar (or high fructose corn syrup) held together by chemicals.  It also doesn’t make them “whole grain” despite the fact that the FDA seems ok with that label.

Why are we so upset about abuse of a process that ruined our economy, but we’re willing to accept it in other settings?  Are there just too many parties that benefit from the system to upset the Apple Jacks cart?  Or is there something deeper within our human nature where we want the wool to remain snugly pulled over our eyes at the expense of our society?

Paraphrasing the great modern philosopher Homer Simpson, I would simply say, “Mmmmm…..high fructose corn syrup.”