Lawsuit challenges new bankruptcy law

[LiviaOlivia]

The Associated Press/NEW HAVEN, Conn.
By MATT APUZZO
Associated Press Writer

Lawsuit challenges new bankruptcy law

MAY. 12 12:36 P.M. ET Organizations representing thousands of attorneys are challenging the nation's tough new bankruptcy law, saying it illegally restricts the advice lawyers can give and makes it harder for clients to navigate the bankruptcy system.

A lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Hartford on Thursday claims that the law treats attorneys the same as unlicensed document preparers or credit counseling firms, which are required under the new law to give specific advice -- including not to go deeper into debt.

That illegally hampers the attorney-client relationship, the lawsuit argues, and might even prevent lawyers from recommending that clients hire them in the first place. Attorneys say legal advice isn't one-size-fits-all.

"Someone could be down and out but have access to a student loan to go to school for retraining," said attorney Barry S. Feigenbaum, who filed the suit. "We couldn't advise that client to take that student loan."

~snip~

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8HIBJBG1.htm?campaign_id=apn_home_down&chan=db

[Scott the Wise]

1. I would like to see

the day when lawyer guilds (bar associations) are minimized and anyone can take a test to get a license without necessarily having a degree.

[AndyTiedye]

2. Wouldn't Mind Seeing This Particular Law Get Overturned Though

It is a bad law, and its passage was accompanied by a great deal of unseemly whoring by members of our own party. :puke:

[gratuitous]

4. As long as they're required to carry professional liability insurance

And keep up with the latest laws, and take continuing education courses, and . . . shoot, why not just get the degree?

[liberalhistorian]

7. Really? Would you say that about physicians?

I don't want to go to a lawyer without a degree and the knowledge that comes with it, any more than I want to go to a physician who's just taken a test to get a license, without a medical degree. I'm a paralegal and I know full well the importance of lawyers having that degree and that knowledge.

[LiviaOlivia]

9. Thank you

:)

[reprobate]

3. Attorneys are like cops. We hate them until we need them.

[liberalhistorian]

8. Most attorneys work very hard,

people have no idea of how much work goes into even seemingly simple legal matters. I'm a paralegal, I know. And many of them give up the chance to get much bigger salaries, perks, and prestige by working for public interest law firms, nonprofit organizations, and legal aid agencies, which are so critical to ensuring that those who desperately need legal services but who can't afford them get what they need. And most volunteer many pro bono (free) hours.

Debtor's lawyers particularly get screwed in this horrible, medieval bankruptcy law. They are held legally liable for the financial information provided by their clients, including any omissions. That is complete bullshit, especially since the same is not required for creditor's attorneys, even though creditor's information is wrong a good deal of the time. Most bankruptcy attorneys who represent debtors, that I know, don't make much money and do it because they know how badly such people need the legal help and how much they're getting screwed by the system, their creditors, and the creditors vulture lawyers.

[reprobate]

11. The mistake we make, LH, if believing the justice system has....

....anything to do with JUSTICE.

[liberalhistorian]

12. Oh, definitely, any lawyer

and paralegal worth his or her salt, and anyone else involved in the legal/justice system for more than ten minutes knows that to be true. We just keep working at it and trying because once in awhile the good guys do win. Just not enough.

[Jane Austin]

5. Total incompetents armed with licenses as Officers of the Court?

Not what I want to see.

[truthisfreedom]

6. bwahahahaha! and watch them... SCOTUS will have no choice but to overturn

it. amazing. what a buch of goofballs we have in Congress. they simply never look beyond their own noses.

[Rose Siding]

10. I wonder just how much of bush world can be changed in the courts

His congress' have done so much that seems unconstitutional, I'm not sure alito and roberts are enough to guard the mayhem from the rest of the judiciary.

[not_nameless]

13. the only good thing

this bill does is protect 401Ks & IRAs from creditors and judgments. I think
there's a $1 million limit for the IRAs for no limit for 401Ks.