What makes a BK Attorney good or great…??

[tn09]

Love to hear some feedback on why you think your attorney was good or great? I have a consultation with a attorney very soon. She was recommend by another BK attorney, who by the way is a friend of mine. He could not handle my case because I live in a different county, so it didn’t make a lot of sense taking my case since there will be a lot of travel time for him.

I have come up with about 10 questions which I like to ask this new attorney during my consultation before I decide to go with her. From reading this forum, it seems to me that your experience with going through CH13 varies tremendously. Some reported only miserly from the start of the process to the end. Some have only positive experience. I could draw a conclusion that a good BK Attorney is worth their weight in gold.

Just trying to find some common ground for a good BK Attorney…

TN09

[papie]

For me, I like the fact that during business hours I can get a same day response from my lawyer or his paralegal. In fact, I can generally e-mail his paralegal and get a reply within 30 minutes (usually less.) He has ample staff to care of his clients when he's busy and that is a must for me.

I always feel so sorry for people on here who talk about how they called their attorney so many times and no one has returned their calls and blah blah. That would drive me insane.

If I had to do it all over again I would certainly ask how quickly they respond to their clients and if there is someone (besides the lawyer) that I can call with questions. Communication is key for me. I also set up a few meetings before we filed and had called the office a few times just to ask basic questions. I always received prompt responses. If they would have lagged out of me and not returned calls...I'm pretty sure I would have found another lawyer right then.

[forgotten]

My advise, read read read everything you can about bankruptcy and your situation. Then, find an attorney that knows more than you do.
I saw 2 that seemed to know less than I did about it. I got incorrect answers to several of my questions. I finally found one that knew everything I did, then taught me several things and explaned several district specific items.
I also noticed my attorney knew a lot of things about the trustee (what she objects to, what she questions and flat out allows, etc.).

[AngelinaCatHub]

What makes a BK attorney good or great. The real truth

A good attorney knows the law. A great attorney knows the Judge. 'Hub

[AngelinaCatHub]

OK now for the real reply

It is my personal experience as well as opinion that most people know nothing of BK when they get hit in the head with reality. A great attorney is one who will "TRAIN" you in the procedures. We knew NOTHING and were blindly led.

Never again will I go to law without knowing a bit of it first. We made every conceivable stupid mistakes in the book. Took three years to get through all this. At least I made my lawyer a spectacle in front of her peers and the Judge. We legally fired her within a hearing. We also voiced our reasons. We got by as we made our mistakes right.

If your lawyer will train you, he is a great lawyer. 'Hub

[my2girls]

Agreed! We met with 5 or 6 attorney's before we felt comfortable. I've learned more from this forum than it appeared some of the attorney's knew. Anxiously waiting to file and hope we made the right choice. Good luck and definatley shop around.

[drowning123]

I agree with 'Hub, but in my case a great attorney knows the trustee. My attorney has been practicing for 35 years and he's a fixture in the court houses. A great attorney takes a keen interest in your case. I'll never forget one evening I went to see my attorney because he was worried that my income would not allow me a Chapter 7. He was knee deep in books researching ways around it. Eventually it worked out. I got my $1600 worth.

[lrprn]

A great lawyer really knows the law, the bk judge, and the trustee, listens patiently to your questions, makes sure you understand what's going on in your case and why, responds within a reasonable period to emails and phone messages (within 3-4 days is reasonable unless you have a major unexpected financial disaster befall you).

Then after showing you all those wonderful qualities, your lawyer tops everything by telling you, "I'm not going to charge you anything extra to handle the objections in your case because I want to settle the important legal questions your case raises and so I can find out how our judge is going to rule in these situations in our district for the future." And then he didn't charge us one extra penny to deal with three objections. Our lawyer ended up being a *freakin' amazing* lawyer!

I've come to the conclusion after our experiences and reading thousands of posts made for other good and bad 13 cases over the last five years that finding and retaining the right lawyer to file Ch 13 is at minimum 50% of an ultimately successful 13.

[Pandora]

+1 on lrprn's post. Our attorney acted in the same manner as she experienced as did his staff.

[chicagoed195]

Evaluate your attorney before the selection process. I spent a tremendous amount of time researching bankruptcy attorneys before scheduling an appointment. I read their blogs and the independent reviews posted by their clients. I got a pretty good idea up front of which firm I would like to represent me based on the client comments. The firm website had all of the forms that needed to be completed before the meeting in a very user friendly format. I first met with a staff attorney who reviewed my information and filled in the blanks in preparation for the initial meeting with the partner. I then met with the partner and we made a decision as to 13 vs 7. He was well prepared and fully cognizant of my situation and very ably explained the process we would be gonig though. After agreeing to retain his firm, I immediately met with a paralegal that specialized in Chapter 13 filings and we reviewed the numbers again. She made many suggestions that certain items were too low and that several were more than the trustee would normally accept without an objection. Over the course of several weeks, we emailed back and forth. Response time was always same day or by the time I arrived at work the next day. Every time I have had a question in the last 20 months, the response time has been consistent.

I raised an issue due to a major adjustment in my mortgage payment (to my advantage). I would have been content to have an answer by email, even if it was just something like we will cross that bridge if we have to. Instead, he arranged a meeting to go over the issues, suggested that he didn't think the trustee would act on the mortgage company notification (he hasn't), didn't believe the trustee would see the change in my tax return since it was a reduced expense, not an increase to income and then made some planning recommendations to minimize the impact if for some insane reason the trustee did actually stumble over the change. All of this activity covered by my original fee.

To my mind, a great attorney, makes sure you are prepared, so that he can be prepared. He knows what will or won't fly with the trustee and the judge(s). He knows how Judge A will react in a situation as opposed to Judge B. The attorney is responsive and the answers he give you are what you need to know, not what you want to hear.

Chances are pretty good, if you are not comfortable with the process in the initial meeting, you won't be comfortable the rest of the way. 5 years is a long time to suffer a bad choice. Kind of like carpentry, you need to measure twice and cut once.

[lillymarlene]

About a year ago, I definitely knew I was going to file bankruptcy. I didn't know about this forum, had no idea what I was supposed to ask an attorney on the free consults or how to go about finding this type of representation. However, I did have friends and family around me that made suggestions, and let me bounce some ideas around. I finally ended up meeting with three. The first was a generalist reccomended by my boyfriend, but I felt that having a small business, my situation was a little too complicated. The second, who I picked from the old yellow pages, did not deign to meet with me himself, but sent his paralegal instead.

Finally, on my own I came up with the idea, though I know now this is very common, why not ask another lawyer to reccomend a lawyer. I remembered that years ago, my father used a particular attorney for something and I called him. He told me to use X, saying that he was the best in our area and that it was a good thing I'd asked him since he knows...he just seemed so definite about this person.

Well I went with the third one. I filed last October, was confirmed this May, and so far I think I have an excellent attorney. He basically went over the options with me, and if it was feasible, let me choose what I wanted. He wrote letters to stop a couple of creditor lawsuits. At my 341 he basically did most of the talking, beyond my 'yes' or 'no' answers. Then what is important even now if I have a question, he gets back to me within about one business day.

I agree with the other posters here, that it's best to have somebody you are comfortable with (13's last a long time) and communication is very important.

[debtfreeindy]

If you have multiple consultations, you can spot the difference between the many types of bankruptcy attorneys. A good or great bankruptcy attorney will take the time to answer all of your questions and make sure that you understand the process. Some attorneys will simply push reading material in your lap or shovel you off to a paralegal or secretary to get information. Also, don't think that the number of gray hairs on an attorney's head is indicative of experience. Experience is how many and what type of bankruptcy cases the lawyer has done. A divorce lawyer with 40 years experience may know absolutely nothing about bankruptcy, whereas an attorney who is young but practices exclusively in bankruptcy will probably know everything that is needed to have a successful case. Another thing that is always telling is the point of contact. When you call the law firm, can you ever get ahold of the attorney? Does he or she return your phone call the same day or within a couple days, max? If not, you're probably dealing mostly with paralegals, secretaries and you're not getting very good quality representation or service.

[Mayo]

If you can get a lawyer that will return your phone calls within the same day you have a good one.

[karm43]

Is there a like button?

[karm43]

I finally retained a attorney this one 27 years in bk only explained every thing. I think he was surprised I knew so much. I hope he is good, so far he has answered every e mail. Starting the process yes!