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

Bankruptcy

: Arizona Bankruptcy Attorney Blog

Will You Fight For Me? Well, Maybe.

By Joseph McDaniel, Esq.

Will You Fight For Me? 

There are a lot of people who only interact with a lawyer once in their lives.

For instance, when they retain a bankruptcy attorney.

And since they've never actually hired a lawyer before, they consult their memory banks for pictures they've seen of lawyers, and stories about lawyers, and jokes about lawyers, and movies about lawyers, and television shows about lawyers, in order to try to guess what their lawyer should be doing for them.

Now, a television show about lawyers is a great place to learn about lawyers.

If they're actors.

Reading a script.

Real life lawyers are a little different from television lawyers, and also from lawyers on television commercials.

For instance, I'll freely and straightforwardly tell you that I'll fight for you, if you're silly enough to force me to do so, and rich enough to pay me to do so. Although I'll probably tell you to hire a specialized litigator instead, because, well, they're a specialized litigator!

See, in a bankruptcy case, fighting involves time, and time is what lawyers get paid for.

Putting it another way, my love is free, but my time will cost ya.

Now, as I see it, an experienced, competent bankruptcy attorney in Arizona, whether in Phoenix, Mesa, Chandler, or Tempe, does his best work when he figures out how not to need to fight for you.

Putting it another way, which do you think is smarter: fighting like crazy to protect mom from a preference lawsuit in your bankruptcy case, or waiting until the time period for a preference lawsuit against mom has passed to file your bankruptcy?

You see?  It's a no-brainer, right?

Even if you're doing a great job of fighting, there's always a perfectly good chance of losing a fight. That's why litigators normally get paid on an hourly basis: they know their clients may lose, and they want to make sure that they (the litigators) don't lose, also!

I don't like fighting because that gives the other side a chance of winning!

Now, on the other hand, I will snivel for you. And whine. And wheedle, And beg. And negotiate. And crawl on my belly like a reptile (unless my back is out that week).

Because in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Arizona, those are useful forensic skills.

Fighting?

Well, it's useful for somebody. Especially somebody who needs billable hours.

You know?

p.s. now, this post is a little tongue in cheek. Sometimes you gotta fight, or they'll walk all over you. But smart bankruptcy lawyers generally have a pretty good idea how an issue is going to turn out in front of the particular Bankruptcy Judge you drew (which is strictly by chance; remember that it's better to be lucky than smart).

And now that the bankruptcy trustees have started practicing deep mining techniques in their bankruptcy cases, the most everyday, standard, ordinary exemption may get an objection.

Seriously. Don't be surprised if there's an objection to an exemption in your case. The outcome is a different matter.

Generally, trustees will file an objection to exemptions when they get close to the drop dead date to file objections, just to cover the part where they sit down. And if it's a silly objection they'll drop it.

Recently a trustee's attorney filed an objection to an auto exemption; he hadn't noticed that the debtor was crippled, and so entitled to a $10,000 auto exemption. When he figured it out, he withdrew the objection, and life was good.

But sometimes they'll object to an exemption and then get emotionally attached to the outcome; in those cases, the only smart thing to do is to settle 'em, unless the trustee is really, really unreasonable.

Because in any piece of litigation, you may well lose. Even if you're right.

How do I know?

Well, because back when I was dumber and fought a lot more, I won a lot I should never have won.

And lost a couple that couldn't possibly be lost.

There's a reason they call it the "practice" of law.

.

Full post as published by Arizona Bankruptcy Attorney Blog on October 22, 2010 (boomark / email).