Professional Compensation/Fees

Practical Overview of Lawyers’ Use of AI and Billing

Increasingly, consumer bankruptcy lawyers will be using AI in the future. It therefore is incumbent upon them to develop procedures and policies for its use and in billing for such services. Doing so will be a combination of art and science controlled by both ethical and practical considerations. Because its use is in an embryotic phase, standards are still being developed, and the area is plagued by a dearth of both case law and statutory guidelines. Practitioners also have to be cognizant that AI is a rapidly and ever-changing tool characterized by advances made on a constant basis.

U.S. Trustee Rebuffed in Objecting to Rates Higher than Local Rates

‘National’ rates higher than ‘local’ rates can be locked in by retention orders under Section 328(a).

BAP Lays Down Pleading Rules for Fee Applications in Small Chapter 7 Cases

The fee application by an attorney for a chapter 7 trustee in a small case must state facts to show why the services must have been performed by an attorney, not by the trustee.

Benchnotes February 2024

Feb 2024

To Use or Not to Use: Ethics and the Use of AI in the Legal Industry

“Hit Me with Your Best Shot”: Sanctionable Shenanigans by Debtor’s Counsel and Others

Supreme Court Review: Recent Decisions and Their Potential Implications for Bankruptcy Lawyers

Corporate Investigations for Companies in Distress: Planning, Process and Execution

Actual Damages Not Required to Recover Attorneys’ Fees for a Stay Violation

Judge Goldblatt slaps creditors with $665,000 in damages for violating the automatic stay.