Re: Attorney going bankrupt

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I know an attorney who has filed bankruptcy twice, and he
still has his license. he also is doing well now with
clients.

On 1/21/05, Curmudgeon wrote:
> The consequences should not be more dire than anything
> you've already been through. I know of no states that will
> revoke a license just because of a bankruptcy. The
> exception would be if there were some shenanigans with your
> trust account. The hardest part will be convincing the
> trustee you should be in a Chap. 7 instead of a Chap. 13--
> especially since the business seems to be turning profitable.
>
> If you look around your community at solos with big fancy
> offices and/or huge TV advertising budgets, you'll probably
> find a bankruptcy somewhere in their past.
>
> Just think of bankruptcy as another business planning tool.
> Look at the airline industry and Donald Trump.
>
> Give yourself the same advice you would give to a client
> facing financial pressures.
>
> On 1/21/05, John wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> I'm a young attorney considering filing for bankruptcy. I
>> got out of law school 4 years ago with high debt, and
>> opened my practice. Bad luck finding referrals,
> collection
>> issues, etc... forced me to go through my savings from my
>> prior profession more quickly than I thought. Now I have
>> $60k of credit card debt, which is what I had been
>> financing my firm with. Aside from commenting on the
>> mistakes I've made (they are plenty, and I admit them),
> can
>> someone tell me how going bankrupt affects a lawyer and
> his
>> practice? I know I cannot discharge school debt. My
>> practice is starting to turn a profit, but the debt level
>> is so high that I cannot pay the rates while paying firm
>> bills. I am a business/estate planning attorney. Will the
>> state bar take my license? Will I lose all my clients?
>> Will I be unable to get clients in the future? Will my
>> referral sources dry up if they find out?
>>
>> Thanks
>> John