Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Bankruptcy Blogs -> Arizona Bankruptcy Attorney Blog

Bankruptcy

: Arizona Bankruptcy Attorney Blog

Do I Have to Talk to a Salesman Before I Talk to a Bankruptcy Attorney in Arizona?

By Joseph McDaniel, Esq.

Well, no.

We don't have a salesman. I'm not just old, I'm old-fashioned. And I don't think a salesman has any place in a law office.

I know perfectly well that the large bankruptcy mills and the small offshoots of the largest bankruptcy mills all use salesmen, and until the salesman works to "close" you, you don't get to talk to a bankruptcy attorney.

In some law firms, the pressure on a potential client to make a decision today is astonishing, and a lot of folks are simply not prepared for the range of closing techniques that the sales guy is willing to use on them, including taking their driver's license and debit card on some fake premise and not giving it back until you sign the retainer agreement.

I didn't believe that could happen at a law office. Until I heard the same story the third time from a refugee who had escaped from The Bankruptcy Mill of Doom (da-da-da-dummmmmmmmm!).

Here's where it gets complicated: a bankruptcy lawyer has to look at the totality of the circumstances presented by the potential bankruptcy client.

And if the case shouldn't be a bankruptcy case, he needs to tell the clients exactly that, even if the firm loses a fee because of it.

And I am delighted to send a potential client out the door if bankruptcy is the wrong decision for them because, frankly, I have plenty of folks banging on the doors because I'm been a bankruptcy attorney in Arizona for a very long time, and now almost like Ghostbusters: "Who Ya Gonna Call?"

And do I really turn clients away if they ought not file? Well, yeah!

Sometimes there are collateral costs of filing bankruptcy that make the process a bad business decision. Recently I turned away a lovely couple who wanted me to file a bankruptcy for them because I could have gotten them to pass the Means Test notwithstanding their high income, but they only had about 25% as much unsecured debt as their yearly income.

I could still have filed for them, of course, if there were special circumstances, but the balance tipping fact for me was discovering that they had a substantial personal injury cause of action which they would have lost if they had filed.

So I discussed ways to negotiate their debt down, noting that they needed to consult their CPA about probable tax forgiveness consequences, and pointed out that they might be able to benefit from a short sale, or even a walkaway, because they only had the one mortgage on their principal residence, and the Arizona Anti-Deficiency Statute might well protect them.

Lovely people; but the first thing about being a lawyer is remembering to think like a doctor, who in the Hippocratic Oath swears first, to do no harm.
And I found a pretty version of the Hippocratic Oath on Wikipedia, so enjoy! 

  

Full post as published by Arizona Bankruptcy Attorney Blog on March 27, 2011 (boomark / email).