Trustees

[danaf]

Is there a way to find out whether a bk lawyer is also a trustee (without asking them outright)?

[jennyn]

I went to my states BK court website and they list all the trustee's

[storesstores]

Great question...

I'd like to add a twist to it as well..

Are there certain trustees that seem to take a liking to certian lawyers?

Are trustees and certain lawyers that actually represent clients ever friends out of the court room?

Have you ever seen a trustee and a BK lawyer out to lunch together or doing anything else together?

Do trustees tend to respect the schedules of certain lawyers more then others?

[lrprn]

Is there a way to find out whether a bk lawyer is also a trustee (without asking them outright)?

Here you go - http://www.usdoj.gov/ust/eo/private_...ator/index.htm

[HHM]

Great question...

I'd like to add a twist to it as well..

Are there certain trustees that seem to take a liking to certain lawyers?

Are trustees and certain lawyers that actually represent clients ever friends out of the court room?

Have you ever seen a trustee and a BK lawyer out to lunch together or doing anything else together?

Do trustees tend to respect the schedules of certain lawyers more then others?

Do trustees like certain lawyers...most trustees are professional, in their professional capacity, whether the trustee likes a particular lawyer or not, doesn't affect your case. I am sure the trustee respects certain lawyers more than others, the lawyers that have the s*%t together are probably easier for the trustee to work with than hack attorney's. But again, the trustee's opinion of your attorney is not really going to effect the outcome of your case. If you have over-reached on your expenses, the trustee isn't going to let that slid simply because he likes your attorney.

Are they ever friends...they certainly can be, but having an attorney that is friends with a trustee will not effect your case.

Do they lunch together...probably some do, but again, it really isn't going to matter much.

Respecting schedules...yes, trustees, and for that matter the whole legal system (i.e. courts, etc) tend to respect the schedules of attorneys. For example, at most 341 meetings, the clients of attorney's are heard first, and then pro se debtors are put to the end of the list. But deadlines are deadlines, the lawyer knows the deadlines too and is expected to manage his case load properly. But, if a hearing is scheduled and a lawyer has a conflict, he can usually get that hearing rescheduled.

In any respect, even if you knew that a particular lawyer was friendly with a trustee, you are more than likely not going to get any benefit out of hiring that lawyer than any other competent attorney.

By the way, if you ever have an attorney tell you that he/she is a friend of the BK trustee, implying that you will get a better outcome because of that friendship, is a HUGE VIOLATION of the rules of professional conduct for attorney's.

[Lindsay]

There are many trustees listed for my district. I assume they just assign you to one. I found the schedulings of 341 meetings for our area and it lists the lawyers names. Some lawyers in our area do alot of bankruptcy filings (one guy had 10 different clients on the same day of meetings) and some do just one. Very few file pro se in our area, only 1 or 2 people were listed as pro se out of about 300 scheduled meetings.

You might find a lawyer who was in good with a trustee if you knew who your trustee was going to be. It looks like there are about 12 trustees in my area; I'm not sure how they assign them to a particuliar bankruptcy filing.

Also, another twist. What if you have a lawyer and the trustee really hates him? I was reading through a friend's bankruptcy papers and there was a copy of a letter that the lawyer sent to the trustee disagreeing with his decision on whether an asset was exempt or not. It seemed a little argumentative, not really cordial at all. What if there are 12 trustees and 11 of them are kind, but one is a "hanging trustee?"

I was reading through some posts and a few people said that they sat in on some 341 meetings before they filed. I thought that was a great idea. You could see how the trustees interact with the individual lawyers. On our districts website, they give the days of the meetings and there are usually about 30 - 50 cases seen on each day with a good variety of lawyers. I don't know if one trustee handles all of these cases in one day or if there are multiple ones.

[lrprn]

Are there certain trustees that seem to take a liking to certian lawyers?

Are trustees and certain lawyers that actually represent clients ever friends out of the court room?

Have you ever seen a trustee and a BK lawyer out to lunch together or doing anything else together?

Do trustees tend to respect the schedules of certain lawyers more then others?

I'm sure the answers to each of your questions is yes. How you as a non-lawyer would ever know the answers to specific lawyer-to-trustee relationships that are kept behind closed doors....that's a whole different story.

We got a glimpse into the private world behind closed doors when, unlike most Ch 13 filers, we asked our lawyer if we could go to our Ch 13 confirmation meeting. It was 180 degrees totally different than our 341 meeting.

The 341 meeting was very business-like, move 'em through. The confirmation hearing had just the Ch 13 lawyers, the trustee, and our district judge, no clients there but us sitting in the back of the courtroom. Before the judge arrived, the lawyers were very informal laughing and talking among each other, joking with the trustee, and swapping vacation and family stories. There were a few specific case discussions between a lawyer and the trustee about a problem case, but even these were pretty informal. Once the judge came in and the confirmation for each Ch 13 case was done lawyer by lawyer, things got more formal, but still fairly casual with a few humorous remarks made. It was obvious these folks all knew each other and felt very comfortable with each other.

I have a feeling that this is pretty typical in most courts. These folks work together day in and day out. They are friends. And I'm sure there are some lawyers that are liked more than others just like in any group where humans try to work together. Now as a Ch 7 filer how you would find the information out, I have no idea. And even if you did know it, I don't think there would be any advantage to having that information. These people are professionals. If your case is solid, it won't matter if the trustee is best friends with your lawyer or hates him/her. The law is the law, and lawyers are trained to overlook these personal preferences.