Representing yourself in a bankruptcy case has a non obvious downside: if the case develops problems, capable bankruptcy lawyers won’t step into a troubled case.
The judge in yesterday’s calendar was urging any number of individuals who represented themselves (in Chapter 11 cases, no less) to get a lawyer. He was candid with his expectation that their cases would not come to successful outcomes unless they got experienced counsel.
Chapter 11 is a difficult undertaking for an inexperienced bankruptcy lawyer, much less a layman. The rules are set up to manage mega cases, for public corporations. Those procedures are often overkill for individual Chapter 11’s, but it takes a court order to excuse the debtor from the usual rules. Creditors get a vote on the plan, and to confirm a plan, the debtor must get an impaired class to vote for the plan. None of this is easy in the typical case.
The judge’s urging to get an experienced lawyer was sound advice but it didn’t take into account the real world.
The problem in California, and in most other economically hard hit states, is that bankruptcy lawyers are extremely busy. There is more demand for bankruptcy representation than there is supply of seasoned lawyers to do the work. It’s a seller’s market.
Given a choice, lawyers will take a brand new case, in the expectation of doing it right from the start, rather than substituting in to a pending case that has hit snags. And it is inevitable that any individual representing themselves in a bankruptcy case will hit snags. General practice lawyers fumble in this field. Most pro pers haven’t a chance.
Explore every other option before representing yourself in bankruptcy. You may effectively cut yourself off from help if you go it alone.
More on how to pay for a bankruptcy lawyer
Thoughts on interviewing a bankruptcy lawyer
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