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Bankruptcy law and practice are truly fascinating.
Bankruptcy is an intricate balancing act between the rights and needs of
debtors and creditors, between forgiving debt and enforcing personal
responsibility. It is the primary place in civil law based on the moral
virtue of forgiveness. Whether working on behalf of creditors or debtors, I
like knowing that I am helping to keep this delicate system honest. And
every case is intensely human and personal. That is certainly true when face
to face with a distraught homeowner facing imminent foreclosure, but it is
true even when researching case law--once you have had years of hearing the
difficult stories and having some responsibility for addressing them, the
human element shines through even otherwise dry appellate opinions.
Since late 2000 I have not been working as an attorney
because at that time I agreed with the Oregon State Bar to accept a
temporary ethical suspension of my law license. There are plenty of lessons
in this very difficult experience which I would be honored to share if it
would help another attorney avoid what I went through. So feel free to ask.
Through it all I have continued working in the bankruptcy world—yes, partly
because after all these years it is what I know best, but also because of
the reasons I have stated here. I continue being active as a member of the
Debtor-Creditor Section of the Oregon State Bar and look forward to fully
rejoining my colleagues when my law license is reinstated.
Before establishing BLS I persistently picked the
brains of many attorney and business friends and family over the course of
many months and even years. I am eternally grateful for their generosity of
time and candor. I hope I continue to honor their invaluable contributions
by the continued success of this endeavor. And I am always open to and
grateful for suggestions to help me continuously improve my services.
A touch of closing biographical information: I am a
graduate of Pomona College and Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of
California, Berkeley. I spend as much time as I can catching up with my
quickly growing up son and daughters, love hiking and trail-running with
friends and family in the Columbia Gorge and on Mount Hood, and am preparing
for next spring’s Boston Marathon with a great group of (much younger!)
guys.
I invite any bankruptcy and debtor-creditor attorneys
who have a challenging issue or case to contact me. Or even if just to ask a
question about some of the information or research on this website, I would
enjoy hearing what's on your mind. My goal in this website is to provide
practical, timely, and reliable information, as an indication that those
same attributes characterize the services BLS provides. I commit to working
for each attorney and his or her clients with dedication and integrity.
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