The Lawyer’s Guide to Chapter 7 Bankruptcy (Including 1 hour of Ethics)

Session I - Foundations of Bankruptcy: Chapter 7 – Susan S. Blum

Foundations of Bankruptcy: Chapter 7 starts with the basics of bankruptcy and provides the understanding and tools needed to determine whether a consumer should file a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13. Taking you through the initial client interview and information and document gathering, Susan Blum will guide you through the bankruptcy petition, including the Statement of Financial Affairs and Schedules. She’ll discuss what the Means Test means and provide an overview of some Chapter 7 pitfalls. Finally, we’ll discuss 2 important bankruptcy topics, preferential payments and fraudulent transfers, and the treatment of taxes in bankruptcy. You’ll be ready to file a Chapter 7 after this session.

Key topics to be discussed:

• Determining which chapter of bankruptcy to file, Chapter 7 or Chapter 13
• Initial client interview, information gathering, required documents
• The bankruptcy petition, including statement of financial affairs and schedules
• The means test
• Other bankruptcy matters: Preferences / fraudulent transfers / tax debt

Session II – Ethics in Bankruptcy – Susan S. Blum

In her ethics in bankruptcy session, Susan Blum will give a comprehensive analysis of the ethical considerations in representing debtors and creditors in bankruptcy. In discussing competence; conflicts of interest; client communication and consent; confidentiality and disclosure issues; and fraudulent transfers, Ms. Blum will focus on the best practices in the area of ethics in bankruptcy. She will also provide different scenarios where ethics must be considered.

Key topics to be discussed:

• Model rules of professional conduct
• Competence and diligence
• Conflicts of interest
• Client communication and consent
• Confidentiality and disclosure issues
• Fraudulent transfers and preferential payments

This course is co-sponsored with myLawCLE.

Closed-captioning available