Where Should You Go To Find A Bankruptcy Attorney?

Do you think that you might need a bankruptcy attorney? Would you like some help finding one?

If you are an individual who might be in financial distress, whether it is from unemployment, a failing business, a divorce, illness, or any other of the typical reasons, and could use a consultation with someone like me, there a couple relatively easy ways to find someone who might be able to help.

The first and easiest way to find a bankruptcy attorney who deals in individual consumer cases is to use the referral service that the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys provides. NACBA is probably the leading trade organization for consumer restructuring counsel. NACBA has a referral service right on its home page where you can plug in your zip code and get a list of bankruptcy attorneys near you.

NACBA is a tremendous resource for both consumers and attorneys. For consumers, it is a place where you can find someone who specifically represents consumers in bankruptcy cases. If I were an individual in financial distress, there is no way I would hire someone to file a bankruptcy case who isn't at least a NACBA member. I don't know anyone whom I would trust to file an individual consumer bankruptcy who isn't a NACBA member. Why is that? It is because of the support resources that NACBA provides for its attorneys.

Bankruptcy is a complex area of practice. Anyone who wants to do it well has to spend a lot of time at it. Among other resources, NACBA has a fantastic listserv that gets hundreds of emails a day from consumer bankruptcy attorneys. It is one place where we tend to go to get answers and consult on issues that we face in our cases. It is open only to NACBA members. I cannot imagine practicing in the area without having that kind of resource at my disposal.

The second place I would go would be to Max Gardner's Boot Camp alumni list. I talked about Boot Camp in a post a few weeks ago. It is a remarkable experience and the "survivors" get tools to help them and their clients that are hard to acquire elsewhere. Right on the home page of Max's Boot Camp is a map where you can find a Boot Camp lawyer. [Ed: Max changed his website at the beginning of May. There is now a specific page for finding a Boot Camp graduate.] As I write this, there is at least one Boot Camper in all but three states and the District of Columbia. If you can retain a lawyer who is both a member of NACBA and a Boot Camper, your chances of getting excellent representation are high.