The legal chatter is full of the promise of Artificial Intelligence to revolutionize the practice of law. It can write your letters, your briefs and your website, they say. But there’s a catch here (other than the fact that AI sometimes makes stuff up, including case law, out of whole cloth.): ChatGPT and its ilk […]
My Client Communication Strategy: Flood the Zone
Poor client communication is the source of both client anguish and discontent with the legal profession. Case in point: failure to return calls is the most frequent complaint to the state bar where I practice. As bankruptcy lawyers, we’re dealing with people under stress: they are seldom at their best and their capacity to absorb […]
What I Learned About Bankruptcy on Facebook
For nearly a year, I’ve been hanging out on a Facebook “bankruptcy support” group. It’s a world full of misunderstanding, fear, and anguish. But it’s also clear to me that our profession can learn some things from that stew, both individually and collectively. Represented, sorta The thing that glares at me is the number of […]
Still Crazy After All These Years
More than four decades after the Bankruptcy Code was enacted, we are still tripping over the lingering conundrums of Chapter 13. Four decades, and appeals courts haven’t brought clarity and predictability to what should be a simple, well understood process for individuals to reorganize their financial lives. I speak of course about the mysteries of […]
Voluntary Retirement Contributions Not Disposable Income in the 9th
Contributions to an employer-sponsored retirement plan going forward are excluded from disposable income in Chapter 13, says the 9th Circuit in Sadana, 19 years after BAPCPA became law. What took so long? Words in the statute matter Congress, in its BAPCPA-typical awkward fashion, said right there, in 541(b)(7)’s hanging paragraph, that amounts withheld for voluntary […]
How to Wring Out Every Last Means Test Deduction
Every extra dollar deduction you can wring out on bankruptcy’s means test is important. A dollar doesn’t sound like a lot, but an extra dollar less in DMI saves a Chapter 13 debtor $60 over the life of a 60 month plan. Every $100 saves $6000. You get the picture. Besides lowering the cost of […]
Don’t Dismiss FRBP 7041
Quick: tell me all you know about FRBP 7041. Hint: it involves voluntary dismissals Maybe you’re like me and never gave it much thought. My encounter with the rule ended up at the 9th Circuit, so I now know a lot more about how it impacts bankruptcy motion practice. I concluded that the “Withdraw” event […]
