Congress had a flurry of legislative activity before leaving for the Christmas recess on Dec. 22, completing action on some legislation changing the legal landscape on bankruptcy. However, several bills affecting the bankruptcy process, inc…

Withdrawal of Reference Not Required after Jury Trial Refusal In In Growe Ex Rel Great Northern Paper v. Bilodard, 325 B.R. 490 (D. Maine 2005), a defendant in an adversary proceeding filed by a chapter 7 trustee seeking recovery of a prefe…

Allegations of the unauthorized practice of law, wrongfully withholding counseling certificates, failure to provide pro bono services, generally poor customer service: These are just a few of the issues that the mandatory credit counseling …

The last time I wrote a column was shortly after the birth of my son. Since then, I’ve been delightfully occupied with the all-important task of raising Harrison, who I am happy to report is a bright, handsome and happy little guy (don’t wo…

While we begin to digest all of the new opinions on the complicated and sometimes ambiguous provisions of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA), it may also be a good time to recall one of the more mun…

A 1996 survey of bankruptcy professionals by the American Bankruptcy Institute 2 reported that two-thirds of the creditor representatives and nearly half of the judges viewed serial filings as a significant problem. In October 2001, the U.S…