BankruptcyBill.us

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…)

Here’s another Overruled! cartoon by Joseph Aronds, Esq., Assistant Vice President at Hartz Mountain, whose cartoons have been running for the past two years in the New Jersey Association of Corporate Counsel’s monthly publication ACC Focus on the New Jersey Chapter. Joe was also recently appointed Vice President of Communications for NJCCA, which ran a nice profile of him here.  Joe can be reached at joseph.aronds [at] hartzmountain.com.

Also, thanks to Joe for mentioning Bankruptcy Bill in the Member Notes section of their February 8, 2010 issue.

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We check back in with our bankruptcy super hero in his battle to save a homeowner against the ominous and powerful Mortgantua.  Things were looking grim, but perhaps there is hope.  Click here for a refresher on ongoing the BAPCPA Man vs Mortgantua saga.

For more information on Max Gardner’s Bankruptcy Bootcamp, go to MaxBankruptcyBootcamp.com.  Click here to see the ABC News Nightline feature on Max Gardner’s Bankruptcy Bootcamp.  And click here to see the Wikipedia entry on Max’s eponymous grandfather who served a term as governor of North Carolina from 1929-33.

For additional information on mortgage and foreclosure, here are a few blog posts:

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

• No Mortgage Cramdown Bill for Christmas

Haines & Krieger (Las Vegas, NV)

• Haines & Krieger’s Las Vegas Foreclosure Round-up
• Capitalism, bankruptcy, foreclosure and hell

Eugene Melchionne, Esq. – ConsumerBankruptcyTips.com (Waterbury, CT)

• Attorney Melchionne featured in NYTimes article on family’s fight against foreclosure in Connecticut
  

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:

Here’s another Overruled! cartoon by Joseph Aronds, Esq., Assistant Vice President at Hartz Mountain, whose cartoons have been running for the past two years in the New Jersey Association of Corporate Counsel’s monthly publication ACC Focus on the New Jersey Chapter. Joe was also recently appointed Vice President of Communications for NJCCA, which ran a nice profile of him here.  Joe can be reached at joseph.aronds [at] hartzmountain.com.

Also, thanks to Joe for mentioning Bankruptcy Bill in the Member Notes section of their February 8, 2010 issue.

Here’s another Overruled! cartoon by Joseph Aronds, Esq., Assistant Vice President at Hartz Mountain, whose cartoons have been running for the past two years in the New Jersey Association of Corporate Counsel’s monthly publication ACC Focus on the New Jersey Chapter. Joe was also recently appointed Vice President of Communications for NJCCA, which ran a nice profile of him here.  Joe can be reached at joseph.aronds [at] hartzmountain.com.

Also, thanks to Joe for mentioning Bankruptcy Bill in the Member Notes section of their February 8, 2010 issue.

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…)

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

Bankruptcy Bill was recently introduced to another lawyer with an affinity for cartoons: 

Joseph Aronds, Esq., Assistant Vice President at Hartz Mountain, has been writing a cartoon called Overruled! for the past two years for the New Jersey Association of Corporate Counsel’s monthly publication ACC Focus on the New Jersey Chapter. Joe was also recently appointed Vice President of Communications for NJCCA, which ran a nice profile of him here.

We asked Joe if he’d be interested in having his cartoons posted on the Bankruptcy Bill site as well and he said, “Sure!”  We hope our readers enjoy the cartoons and would also like to extend special thanks to bankruptcy attorney Sharon Levine of Lowenstein Sandler PC for introducing us.  You can get in touch with Joe at joseph.aronds [at] hartzmountain.com.

(Joe wishes to acknowledge Seth Wimpfheimer’s help with the coloring.)

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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.

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’s celebrating Day 2 of his New York license by providing you with more BLT).  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.

(We begin from the middle!…)

GENERAL

CreditSlips.org

• The Other Underwater Loans: Negative Equity in Auto Finance
• Calling All Article 9 Supernerds—Negative Equity and State Law

Consumer Law & Policy Blog

• Car Sales Plummet after Cash-for-Clunkers Program Ends

National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys (NACBA)

• Eighth Circuit Allows Debtor to Claim Vehicle-Ownership Expense for Wholly-Owned Vehicle

NEVADA

Haines & Krieger (Las Vegas, NV)

• Five Warning Signs That You Are Headed for Bankruptcy
• Bankruptcy Myths

Black & LoBello Law Blog (Las Vegas, NV)

• Bankruptcy FAQ

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