How to Start a New Bankruptcy Practice

How to Start a New Bankruptcy Practice - Page 3

DOWNLOAD AS PDF Joining Organizations The bankruptcy-related national organizational links below will help connect you to specialized resources that will be important to the growth of your bankruptcy practice: National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys http://nacba.org/ Use the Attorney Directory and search for bankruptcy attorneys you may wish to contact. Send them an email, tell them you are considering opening up a new law practice and would like to schedule a time to talk to them. Not every attorney will reply, but many will probably provide you with links to other ideas that can help you. American Bankruptcy Institute http://www.abiworld.org/ This organization will not allow you to view their Member Directory unless you pay to join as a member. This is a good thing because it helps to stop bogus email filled with advertisements and spam. However, the bad side is that attorneys cannot use this organization for marketing. Consumers would never pay to join this organization and therefore would not look for an attorney here. However, this is an excellent organization to join and you get a wide range of other benefits to help your law firm grow. National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges http://www.ncbj.org According to their website, and in their own words: “The National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges is an association of the Bankruptcy Judges of the United States which has several purposes: to provide continuing legal education to judges, lawyers and other involved professionals, to promote cooperation among the Bankruptcy Judges, to secure a greater degree of quality and uniformity in the administration of the Bankruptcy system and to improve the practice of law in the Bankruptcy Courts of the United States.” American College of Bankruptcy http://www.amercol.org According to their website, and in their own words: “The American College of Bankruptcy is an honorary association of bankruptcy and insolvency professionals. Its Fellows include: Commercial Bankruptcy Attorneys, Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys, Corporate Turnaround Specialists, United States Trustees, Bankruptcy Trustees, Investment Bankers, Insolvency Accountants, Law Professors, Judges, Government Officials, Appraisers, and others involved in the bankruptcy and insolvency community. Nominees are extended an invitation to join based on a proven record of the highest standards of professionalism and service to the profession.” National Association of Chapter 13 Trustees http://www.nactt.org Founded in 1965, this organization is dedicated to the highest standards of education related to Chapter 13 bankruptcy and education is the focal point of the NACTT's annual seminar. Members of the NACTT receive the NACTT Quarterly, the official publication of the organization, and reduced rates on NACTT seminars. Membership consists of trustees, bankruptcy judges, lawyers for debtors and creditors, certified public accountants and other insolvency related professionals. National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees http://www.nabt.com Membership benefits in this organization include a directory, listserv, case summaries, access to bankruptcy assets for sale and much more. Once you become a member you also can enjoy discounted Errors and Omission insurance as well as excellent resource information such as seminar materials, creditor contact lists, Trustee Tips, NABTalk articles, and much more. Location to Meet with Clients We assume that you already have a computer (or laptop) and a printer to set up your new law practice, as well as all the beginning office supplies you need. The next question is: Where will you conduct your client intake interviews? You will need to have a secured area to meet with clients to obtain a retainer fee and have them sign a Retainer Agreement. This can be accomplished in several ways. For example, one attorney rented a small office space in downtown Los Angeles for only $400 per month. She used it only to meet with clients for a short period of time. Most of the preliminary work had been done by email and telephone. By the time the clients met with the attorney they were ready to retain her services. The attorney collected the fee, had the Retainer Agreement signed and gave the clients a set of Client Intake Forms to take home and complete. For a free set of Client Intake Forms as well as other bankruptcy attorney tools, visit: http://coloradobankruptcytraining.com/free.html Small offices like these can normally be found on Craig’s List; or attorneys can consider renting a fully equipped office by the hour. Three examples of national companies providing this type of service are: http://www.regus.com/ http://intelligentoffice.com/ http://www.virtualofficecenters.com/ You can find several more by using the search words: “virtual office space” at any search engine. How much do attorneys charge per bankruptcy petition? At the time of this writing, the average price charged for Chapter 7s throughout the United States is approximately $2,500. Chapter 13s are charged a fee of approximately $3,500. In most cases, attorneys charge one price ($2,500) for both Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 petitions. All petitions are first prepared as a Chapter 7. If the Means Test dictates that the client becomes a Chapter 13, the attorney places an additional $1,000 into the Chapter 13 Plan and is paid first, along with the Trustee and other administrative costs. In order to obtain the most up-to-date attorney fees charged by bankruptcy attorneys in your area, do a search on PACER for recent filings and view the Attorney Compensation Statement which is included in every bankruptcy petition. How much do virtual bankruptcy assistants charge? If you do not want to hire and train a staff, or hire new employees to help run your bankruptcy law firm; virtual bankruptcy assistants are the perfect choice. Victoria Ring (CEO of 713Training.Com) is the developer of the virtual bankruptcy assistant industry. She developed the first training materials that provided training to virtual bankruptcy assistants (VBAs) and is fully aware that some VBAs have poor skills. That is why she developed the VBA Certification Exam which is difficult to pass unless the VBA has invested time and money into training. Many bankruptcy attorneys have come to rely on the results of this Exam which can be viewed online at: http://www.vbacertification.com Attorneys who understand the value of hiring professionals who produce professional work over saving a few dollars by hiring an untrained VBA will appreciate a long-term business relationship with a Certified VBA. At the time of this writing, the standard fee for professional level work from a trained and knowledgeable VBA is approximately $500 or more for a Chapter 7 and $700 or more for a Chapter 13; however, every VBA sets their own prices. How do I know if I will be satisfied with the Certified VBAs work? Attorneys often ask VBAs for references before they use their services. However, even the best petition preparer may still lack skills dealing with clients. It may take several attempts before an attorney finds a VBA that fits his or her personality and the operations of the law firm; which in this case, references do not always work. Besides, no one gives a bad reference anyway so how reliable can a reference be? | Next Page | Previous Page |

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