Lawyer competence/satisfaction rate.

[SamanthaJones]

I'm seeing that the MAJORITY of people in here have had issues with their lawyers, or lost out somehow in the BK process. The tone is decidely untrusting, and one of trying to keep one step aahead of a lwyer that may or may not do this, show up, etc. Anyone have any 'bank' of information on how to find one of the few GOODD BK lawyers in various areas????

[BassBoy]

I think you're wrong about it being a MAJORITY. Of our more recent and current members, I haven't read 50% or more that have had problems with their attorney.

As for a "bank" of information, you won't find much here. Most of us keep our location private, so we don't tell what area and what attorneys. This is something each individual will have to do themselves. It's up to you (the debtors) to choose proper, competent counsel.

[JollyGG]

http://www.bankruptcyforum.com/showthread.php?t=11519

This post contains some advise on how to find a lawyer from GMLutz that you could try.

[HHM]

Also too, not to apologize for the attorney's, there are some out there that probably have little business practicing in BK, but I think consumers probably go in expecting too much from their attorney and the attorney doesn't do a good job or realigning those expectations. Moreover, in most attorney's office, it is the paralegal or BK assistant that does MOST of the work. Even for firms that do many BK's a month, only a small percentage of those cases will have "out of the ordinary" circumstances, so even most BK attorney's don't have substantial experience with "special" cases. So, a firm that does 20 BK's a month, might see 1 case a month that raises a unique issue. For example, in most states, you can probably count on one hand the number of attorneys that have ever brought a student loan hardship discharge case on behalf of a client.

Given the nature of this website, the members that have posted about dissatisfaction with their attorney were persons with uncommon issues in their BK.

[LostOne0069]

Hell, I'm GLAD to tell anyone who wants it what attorney NOT to hire in the Cherry Hil, NJ area. If I'd have listened to him we'd have been royally screwed.

Now, that having been said. I have worked for 2 different law firms in my carreer as a computer nerd and ALL of those attorneys (about 75 of them total) were pretty damn good at what they did. I think that the bad attorneys we've been running into here are the exception rather than the rule.

I think that you can get a good attorney, but it's still going to be a good idea to be aware of what SHOULD be happening, so, if anything, you at least are prepared for it when it comes.

Good luck!