Bankruptcy

The Best Bankruptcy Lawyer in Arizona!

By Joseph McDaniel, Esq.

Lawyers are like golf clubs; there are clubs for sand, there are clubs for distance. There is no best club for every situation.

There are lawyers I think of as the best in Arizona for specific purposes. There are clients I won't take for various reasons. I try to send them to a good home.

For instance, there are folks who must file a "big box bankruptcy". They are, either because of a failure of education or emotional issues or personal preferences, folks who want to bring in a big ol' box of jumbled, crumpled paper and never talk to their lawyer again until the First Meeting of Creditors at the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Arizona.

I have a friend I'll refer 'em to. Dangling participle and all.

Generally, before I'll refer a case out to another lawyer, I want to know that they are board certified as a Specialist in Bankruptcy Law by the Board of Legal Specialization in Arizona. I would also like them to be peer-review rated AV by Martindale.com. I would also consult with their AVVO.com rating.

There is also the issue of personality and experience, and since I've been doing this so long, I have a pretty good idea what many knowledgeable lawyers in Arizona are all about, at least in the bankruptcy arena. I have only worked closely with a few divorce lawyers, for instance, and a large double-handful of high-end litigators.

One guy, for instance, will take anybody as a client if they have the retainer; this distinguishes him from most of my buddies, but it's a useful characteristic. He's the bankruptcy opposite of the little kid in the cereal commercial who hates everything (Mikey, remember?). He's a resourceful lawyer, and I respect him; but he's taken clients who would turn your hair white!

I have a few friends who wouldn't dare touch a complex case, and that's good; you MUST know your limitations.

And I never get angry (okay, a little frustrated, maybe) when I call a buddy and find out that they can't take a complex matter now, because they're swamped. Okay, got it. Next!

But there are very good lawyers for Chapter 13s, for Chapter 7s, for Chapter 11s, and even the seldom-used Chapter 12 cases. And if the case isn't a good fit for me, I look at my laundry list of lawyers who are former Chairs of the Bankruptcy Section of the State Bar, or board-certified as specialists in bankruptcy law, or "pre-eminent" 5.0 AV rated by Martindale.com, or rated a "superb" 10.0 by AVVO.

Here's something else.

I don't ever refer to a law firm. There are no good law firms. There are only good lawyers.

There are law firms that have a deserved good reputation, and bankruptcy law firms that have two dozen ethics violations where you wouldn't send your worst enemy (okay, maybe your WORST enemy, but not your second-worst!).

But I once made a recommendation to a great law firm, and watched as a guy in the bankruptcy department did a lousy job because he was the wrong lawyer for that situation; mind you, the right lawyer was down the hall, in the same department. I was frustrated, but the gentleman I referred over really liked that lawyer, so he rode the case all the way down.

And a great lawyer may be having a bad week, because of the intervention of life-events. Nobody is at their best immediately after a massive heart attack, not even lawyers. Note: I want all my lawyer buddies and all of my clients and all of my friends to talk plenty of Vitamin C, because of the study published in the Lancet in 2001, and everything that Linus Pauling wrote. According to the Lancet-published study, the folks who have the largest amount of Vitamin C circulating in their blood live, on average, about nine years longer than those in the lowest quartile.

So when I look for the best bankruptcy lawyer in Arizona for a case that isn't a good fit for me, I think about a lot of different variables.

NOTHING HERE CONSTITUTES LEGAL ADVICE RE A CHAPTER 7, CHAPTER 13, CHAPTER 11, OR CHAPTER 12. FIND AN ARIZONA BANKRUPTCY LAWYER WHO IS BOARD CERTIFIED IN BANKRUPTCY LAW, AV RATED, AVVO 10 RATED, ON SUPERLAWYERS, OR JUST VERY EXPERIENCED AND A FORMER CHAIR OF SOME BANKRUPTCY SECTION OR COMMITTEE. NOTHING HERE MAY BE USED AS LEGAL ADVICE IN CONNECTION WITH ANY BANKRUPTCY, WHETHER THAT BANKRUPTCY IS IN PHOENIX, GLENDALE, TEMPE, MESA, SCOTTSDALE, OR ANYWHERE ELSE.

Full post as published by Arizona Bankruptcy Attorney Blog on January 26, 2010 (boomark / email).