How to pick and vet a bankruptcy attorney

One of the things I notice is that my clients research me before they hire me, which is a really good idea. They will use AI tools as part of their process, which is also good. In this post, I’m going to talk about the things to look for when selecting a bankruptcy attorney.

Are they admitted to practice?

This is the easiest thing to find out. You can do this, at least in WA, by Googling “Washington State Bar Association,” and then doing a search there. Remember to make sure you search my name with the correct spelling (there’s no U in my last name, lol).

This really needs to be the first thing you do.

Searching federal courts–bankruptcy is federal–is more difficult, but you can ask the attorney straight-up whether they are admitted to bankruptcy court.

Be wary of petition preparers and your neighbor who filed before. Failing to make the proper disclosures are a big deal, and non practitioners are not in a position to advise on this.

Are they able to make their living from bankruptcy? 

This is a sneaky good inquiry. Bankruptcy is a niche practice. Attorneys who dabble in bankruptcy are likely committing malpractice in every case. Reread that last sentence. Ask yourself this: would you hire a pediatrician that mostly does radiology?

Someone who does mainly/only bankruptcy is far more invested in knowing bankruptcy law than someone with multiple areas of practice. In my case, bankruptcy is all I am doing at the moment, although I will take an uncontested divorce here and there to keep things interesting. And while I will be adding in probate at some point, it’s only to balance my practice for when bankruptcy filings decrease significantly.

Experience matters, but only to a point. This is because of the law of diminishing returns. Most of what a bankruptcy attorney learns comes in the first six months of practice. After that, it’s about learning the idiosyncrasies of local practice (trustees and judges). The primary experience beyond that comes from taking cases with unusual fact patterns. After a few years, a bankruptcy attorney has probably seen everything anyway. 

Experience + high volume can be a red flag. Believe it or not bankruptcy involves both state and federal law, which requires bankruptcy attorneys to stay up to date on both. Attorneys with decades of experience, who are running bankruptcy mills, are not pouring over changes in the law.

There are two types of attorneys you probably don’t want. 

The first is the one who charges the most. Typically, attorneys that charge the most have the highest overhead. So you’re not really paying for just legal services, but you are also paying for the attorney’s overhead (much of which is in the advertising budget). I’ve heard horror stories of people losing, or nearly losing, houses because they hired an overpriced bankruptcy mill where they dealt with offshore paralegals who, and I am not kidding, occasionally give ruinous legal advice.

The second is the one who charges the least. While there may be exceptions to this, the cheapest attorneys either run bankruptcy mills or just aren’t very good. Good attorneys command good money, but they don’t overcharge either.

In both cases, you are not the attorney’s priority.

One of my greatest strengths is my low overhead. You are not paying for office space, advertising and/or off-shore paralegals. I don’t have office space and I don’t advertise. You’re just paying for me, and I am in turn paying my US-based paralegal. Because of this I don’t need to take a million cases.

Does the attorney take every case?

If yes, run. It’s that simple. There is a point at which, no matter how good you are, your competence level plummets. This is true in any job, and it is also across the board: all cases suffer when the attorney takes even one too many.

Clients suffer when attorneys don’t know who they are or don’t call them back, or when the attorney is too overwhelmed to do basic analysis.

Is the attorney a reasonably pleasant person?

This matters. Are you actually comfortable dealing with this attorney on an ongoing basis? Are they lecturing you at the consult? Are they judging you? Are they actually happy to be talking to you? Do they want to know your story?

Is the attorney a current or past member of National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys (NACBA)?

This is a big one. I’m a member of NACBA because it gives me the ability to reach out to hundreds of other bankruptcy attorneys with questions, not to mention a load of other benefits as well. I was mentored by the former president of the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys–if Yoda were a bankruptcy attorney, he would be this guy. He’s testified before congress about bankruptcy, written extensively about bankruptcy, and routinely gives speeches on bankruptcy. 

I want to be clear, though, not being a member should not disqualify an attorney if their practice is bankruptcy-centric. Some just don’t want to pay for membership.

In summary, you want a bankruptcy attorney that is admitted to practice, charges a reasonable amount of money, is pleasant and competent, is up-to-date on the law, who doesn’t take every case, and is reasonably easy to reach by phone or email.

Here’s my cell: 509-906-2221. Let’s talk bankruptcy.