Re: Bankruptcy Filings Rise

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Fordham,

Solo practice in the current environment is very tough. You have dismissed
me in the past, but I mean well. A few years of work will allow you to save
money, get experience, make contacts, and allow the solo attorney supply to
drop, which it will. Then you can come in and do very well. Just my
advice, but think before you dismiss opinions from people who are out in the
field with their hands dirty.

Another thing, if you have trouble getting law work, which many grads are
(there are too many lawyers), then try finance. I have found, to my
surprise, that the finance field greatly respects a JD. I have been treated
better from the finance and Wall Street types than I ever was by any
attorney, law student, law clerk, judge, or client. Food for thought.

On 3/31/06, FordhamGrad wrote:
> Thanks for the good feedback. I'm evaluating work options right now - in
> a few years, at least, I'd like to be on my own, and BK has always
> interested me.
>
>
> On 3/31/06, FordhamGrad wrote:
>> On 3/30/06, Dante wrote:
>>> Question: I understand that the new law only applies to half the
>>> population - namely, those that make more than the median income of
>>> their particular state. This being the case, are any attorneys
>>> charging these clients the same fee as before? Or are the new fees
>>> hiked for everybody?
>>>
>>> And as a side thought, since poorer people are presumably more
>>> likely to go bankrupt, would it be safe to say that the majority of
>>> potential clients are not impacted by the new law?
>>>
>>> Answer: Bankruptcy law is no longer for amateurs. Please do yourself
>>> a favor and work with someone who does this for a living. The result
>>> of messing it up, which is now fairly easy to do, could be huge
>>> professionally. Check out membership in the ABI if you're seriously
>>> considering BK practice. Liability coverage is more expensive, so
>>> everybody gets charged about twice as much as before. This is the new
>>> reality.
>>>
>>> Poorer people tend to be "judgment proof," i.e., you can't get blood
>>> from a stone. When I first started doing BK about 10 years ago, I
>>> figured that the target market was the poor; it is not. It is the
>>> working poor, formerly known as the lower middle class, who comprise
>>> the client base. Everyone is impacted by the new law. I had to turn
>>> someone away today because they couldn't afford my fee. It was a lose-
>>> lose result that wouldn't have happened 6 months ago. But keep a
>>> positive outlook. Opportunities are rarely handed to us on golden
>>> platters. There is always room at the top. It's the bottom tiers of
>>> the practice that are crowded.
>>>
>>> Good luck.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 3/28/06, FordhamGrad wrote:
>>>> Question: I understand that the new law only applies to half the
>>>> population - namely, those that make more than the median income of
>>>> their particular state. This being the case, are any attorneys
>>>> charging these clients the same fee as before? Or are the new fees
>>>> hiked for everybody?
>>>>
>>>> And as a side thought, since poorer people are presumably more
>>>> likely to go bankrupt, would it be safe to say that the majority of
>>>> potential clients are not impacted by the new law?
>>>>
>>>> I'm not practicing yet, just curious.
>>>>
>>>> On 3/28/06, Dante wrote:
>>>>> I admire the optimism of both Jiff and rrr to predict the future
>>>> of
>>>>> bankruptcy. What do we really know? The practice area has now
>>>>> dropped off a cliff in terms of business. Will this trend
>>>>> continue? The U.S. household savings rate is the lowest ever.
>>>>> Housing prices are the highest ever, and oil is now over $60 per
>>>>> barrel. Add into that an aging population, foreseeably massive
>>>> tax
>>>>> increases both at the federal and state level, and the financial
>>>>> picture darkens.
>>>>>
>>>>> Short-term, our business looks bad; over the longer haul, one has
>>>>> to think that there's hope. I am told that the Chinese character
>>>>> for "crisis" and "opportunity" is the same.
>>>>>
>>>>> We are diversifying over the short-term, and keeping an eye on the
>>>>> long-term opportunity for consumer liquidations that is sure to
>>>>> arise in the deepening morass that is our national economy.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On 3/28/06, Jiff wrote:
>>>>>> I admire your optimism, but I just don't see it that way. The
>>>>>> problem I see with your analysis is that you assume debtors are
>>>>>> actually going to defend against collection suits. In reality,
>>>>>> they don't, not in large enough numbers to make it a viable
>>>>>> practice add on. As far as independent paralegals, they never
>>>>>> really took hold in my area, and as far as easy, cheap work,
>>>>>> attorneys were more than happy to do it. Client comes to me and
>>>>>> offers $400-500 for about 2 hours (at most) of my time for a
>>>>>> simple 7, and I take it happily over and over again. Well, I
>>>>>> used to, under the old law. I share the sentiment voiced by
>>>>>> others on this board that bankruptcy's glory days are behind
>>>>>> us. It was the easiest money I ever made, now, back to those
>>>>>> pesky divorce clients!
>>>>>> On 3/28/06, rrr wrote:
>>>>>>> On 3/28/06, Jiff wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Read these thoroughly. Bankruptcy filings are "rising", but
>>>>>>>> from virtually nothing. The current and projected caseload
>>>>>>>> for the next twelve months will not support the current
>>>>>>>> number of bankruptcy attorneys. 2/3 of the bankruptcy
>>>>>>>> attorneys will go out of business in the next year, in my
>>>>>>>> view.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I think its going to push the Independent Paralegals out of
>>>>>>> Bankruptcy business since they were the ones doing most of the
>>>>>>> fast & easy petitions (at least they were the ones here in
>>>>>>> California). I've already seen it in the local advertising.
>>>>>>> Not a Paralegal advertising for BK at all. The Attorney
>>>>>>> who "occassionally" did a bankrutpcy will no longer do them,
>>>>>>> and the mills will have to change their methods, but the core
>>>>>>> Debtor-Consumer Attorneys are going to come out ahead. And we
>>>>>>> haven't even started to see the fallout from the slow down in
>>>>>>> real estate and consequences from aggressive mortgage lending
>>>>>>> practices. When the foreclosures start to hit in a stagnant
>>>>>>> market, it will be time to feed again. Not to mention there
>>>>>>> will be more Collections Defense Litigation from those who
>>>>>>> can't Chapter 7 because of the Means Test and lack the
>>>>>>> financial stability to Chapter 13, and have no foreclosure to
>>>>>>> prevent. This new law may actually be great news for Debtor-
>>>>>>> side Practitioners after we shake off the immediate mental
>>>>>>> shock and adapt to the change. Time to be patient and time to
>>>>>>> be visionary, the greedy shylocks might have just made us all
>>>>>>> rich.