How many attorneys did you meet with before choosing one?

[anonymuse]

I have seen SinkingFast mention that he met with about 10 attorneys and it made me think:

How many attorneys did you meet with before choosing one?

[SinkingFast]

Well, our situation was a bit complicated. And to be truthful, we did "retain" one other attny before we finally hired one.

About half the practicing BK attnys in our area quit when the Law changed. They were only finishing up with clients they'd taken on pre 10/17.

Then, out of the rest, we started making Consult appts.

First guy talked like Porkie the Pig and tried to push us into a Ch 13 plan. No Means Test. Just took Hubby's net, deducted his own set of expenses, kinda sorta based on our actual expenses, and came up with his magic number.

A few Consults later, we met with the daughter of one of the Trustees. Liked her. Tried to retain her. But she was "no go" due to outa state exemptions. Said she didn't have the time.

Then, when I called for Consult appts, I told either the attny, their receptionist, or their paralegal about the outa state exemptions. Many didn't even want to meet with us due to that. I fig'd that was quicker than wasting our time and theirs.

Several more appts and we met with a real piece of work. He's enamored with himself. Shiny conference table so he can see his own reflection. He tells us we should be a 13, but I banter with him a bit. He realizes I've done my research and reluctantly wrote Ch 7 on the corner of our sheet.

Then we met with an older guy. Seemed to really know his stuff. Immediately said we were Ch 7. We liked him. Then the dreaded "Notice of Default and Intent to Accelerate" letter came on our home loan. We called him about doing a DIL for us. Sure! Just bring me that letter and $350 and I'll take care of it for you. Only thing he did was contact our Realtor to have her fax him a copy of our Listing Agreement, the Contingent Offer on our house, and current Title Work. That's it. Due date came and went and he did nothing. Zip. Zilcho. Nada!

So back in the hunt for another attny. Did an on-line interview with one. That attny uses Rapid Response software. Clients go to stopmybills.com, fill out the interview on-line, the website notifies the attny about the interview, and then the attny contacts the client after the software integrates the info. No call from that attny. Do a couple more consults before we wound up at our attny's office.

Had talked to him on the phone back in January when we started the whole process. First over an hour with his paralegal. Then over an hour with him. Asked for a face to face Consult and he said, "Take care of your tax issues." suggested some other things we do, "And call me when you're ready to file."

10 Consults total. And that's counting the 2 phone calls and the office visit with our attny as one Consult.

[FilingOnMyOwn]

For us pro-se'rs, you should have had a '0' option to vote for

[anonymuse]

So far I've seen one--and it wound up being a paralegal instead of the attorney (as promised). Then the paralegal had a debt management type of guy (who was actually the brother of the attorney) doing a high presssure sales pitch within 2 minutes and scaring the sh!t out of me since he seemed like Chris Farley to the 10th power.

SinkingFast,

Even though not all of your experience was positive, I appreciate you including the history so that we can learn from it. I know there's no magic number, but it will be interesting to hear other's opinions.

FilingOnMyOwn,

I think that some people might have consulted, but not retained an attorney even if they filed pro se. (I'll see if I can change it.)

[tenchi]

I only met one before desiding on retaining him as my attorney. He was really nice. Didn't talk down to me and after getting some information from me, proceeded to explain all five types of bankruptcy. Only after that did he suggestion chapter 7 for me and explained why. The fact that he used to work as a trustee was also a deciding factor for me.

[anonymuse]

The fact that he used to work as a trustee was also a deciding factor for me.

Add that to the list of questions I have to ask of prospective attorneys! Thanks!