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captainsblogSo (more or less) went the quote from the Honorable Lawrence P. Berra of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Yoo-Hoo. And so has been the story of that part of my professional life the past few years. In 2012, I filed exactly four new cases for clients- three of them in the last three months of the year. Overall filing have dwindled to pre-2000 levels at both ends of the court I do almost all my business in. Only a steady stream of collections work, some real estate, and a handful of civil defense clients kept me from a disastrous 2012 on account of this dropoff.
You might think that, with the improving economy and statistics showing that overall local case filings are still down, I'd be in even bigger trouble almost halfway into 2013. That would be a "no." Five months and a full week into the year, I've already matched that four-case total (counting one that's been signed up, fully paid for, but just not electronically sent in yet). And in addition to those, I have no fewer than six cases in various stages of intake, any or all of which may be filed by the end of this coming week. Add to those at least three others I've had initial consults or stragedy sessions on, and I'm suddenly busier than shit over the next few months.
It does make sense, in a back-asswards kind of way. When the economy's at rock bottom, debtors have little to protect, and creditors are short on resources to go after them. All of this recent wave reflects improvement: debtors want to use BK law to keep what they now do have from being seized from them, and creditors on the other side are more empowered to try to force them into that route.
So postings here may go down in the coming weeks. Especially the coming week-singular. Because Judge Berra may not be as dumb as he looks.
You might think that, with the improving economy and statistics showing that overall local case filings are still down, I'd be in even bigger trouble almost halfway into 2013. That would be a "no." Five months and a full week into the year, I've already matched that four-case total (counting one that's been signed up, fully paid for, but just not electronically sent in yet). And in addition to those, I have no fewer than six cases in various stages of intake, any or all of which may be filed by the end of this coming week. Add to those at least three others I've had initial consults or stragedy sessions on, and I'm suddenly busier than shit over the next few months.
It does make sense, in a back-asswards kind of way. When the economy's at rock bottom, debtors have little to protect, and creditors are short on resources to go after them. All of this recent wave reflects improvement: debtors want to use BK law to keep what they now do have from being seized from them, and creditors on the other side are more empowered to try to force them into that route.
So postings here may go down in the coming weeks. Especially the coming week-singular. Because Judge Berra may not be as dumb as he looks.