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Creditors Don’t Receive Estate Assets Recovered After the Last Chapter 13 Plan Payment
Cursing the Debtor by Itself Isn’t a Violation of the Automatic Stay
Congress Must Act to Permit Chapter 7 Debtors to Pay Counsel After Filing
How do we determine what should be disclosed?
How do we live within our ethical obligations while providing the best representation of our clients?
Bankruptcy "Judge Shopping" Under Fire from Creditors, Professors
Creditor groups and several law professors on Friday called for an end to what they call "judge shopping" in a Houston, Texas, bankruptcy court that directs all large cases to a couple of judges, saying that the practice creates "the perception of a two-tiered justice system," Reuters reported. The group asked the federal judiciary to adopt a nationwide rule change that would require new "mega" bankruptcy cases with more than $100 million in debt to be randomly assigned among all judges within the district where they are filed. A uniform rule would reinforce the "impartiality" of the federal court system and prevent bankruptcy courts from competing "to attract the largest and most high-profile bankruptcy cases," the group wrote. Rules proposed from outside the judiciary are subject to many layers of review before they can potentially be adopted, a process that generally takes at least three years, a spokesman for the administrative office of the courts said on Friday. Bankruptcy courts currently have wide latitude in how they assign cases, which has sometimes allowed bankrupt companies to "effectively pick and choose the judge of their choice," according to a letter signed by eight law professors, two creditor groups and Cliff White, a former director of the U.S. Department of Justice's bankruptcy watchdog.
