Service to the Estate and Ethics: Local
Counsel
| ID | Name | Group | Other | Code
Sec |
Cross
Ref | Problem
Referenced | Proposed
Solutions |
NBRC-
0438 | Richard Carrera | Attorney |
|
|
| Restrictions against nationwide admission, such as requirements
to obtain local counsel, introduce unnecesary expense and complication
to what are often routine proceedings governed by federal bankruptcy
laws. Clients should be the ultimate decision makers on who their
counsel should be. | Author supports proposal
to allow practitioners admitted in any district to practice before a
bankruptcy cocurt of any other district in the nation. |
NBRC-
0494 | Richard T. Webb | President & CEO,
Atlantic Financial Federal Credit Union |
|
|
| Author, as creditor in a
bankruptcy case, "was advised by the Court that in Pennsylvania
cases such as this must be represented by counsel. If this was a
federal bankruptcy court why would requirements for representation vary
from state to state...To obtain counsel for what appeared to be a clear
case of fraud would only have increased . . . . unnecessarily . . . .
our expenses." | None
specified. |
NBRC-
0610 | Heidi Heitkamp, et al. | Attorney
General of North Dakota and Chair, Bankruptcy and Taxation Working
Group, National Association of Attorneys General; and, Attorneys General
of member states. | Specific Proposal
Recommendations |
|
| Bankruptcy cases allow the
debtor to centralize litigation in a forum far distant from the locale
in which contact with the creditor took place, which places a burden on
creditors. At the same time, because there is a uniform Code, there is
less reason to need counsel versed in the law of the forum
state. | State and local government counsel
should be allowed to appear nationwide in bankruptcy cases. |
NBRC-
0611 | John R. Ellis | Senior Assistant
Attorney General; Chief, Bankkruptcy & Collections
Unit | Copy of Sample Order Setting Initial
Conference, from Manual for Complex Litigation,
Third. |
|
| Allowing bankruptcy counsel to
appear in other districts without local counsel is entirely consistent
with the practice recommended for and commonly used in multi-district
cases in which counsel are required to conduct litigation in
out-of-state forums not of their choosing. Author has enclosed copy of
Sample Order Setting Initial Conference in multi-state cases, which
contains a provision that: "Attorneys admitted to practice and in
good standing in any United States District court are admitted pro hac
vice in this litigation. Association of local cocounsel is not
required." | Allow bankruptcy attorneys
to appear in other districts without having to associate local
counsel. |
NBRC-
0665 | Samuel L. Bufford | Bankruptcy Judge,
Central District of California |
|
|
| Author comments on national
admission policy for attorneys in bankruptcy by Professor Lawrence P.
King. Author believes it is important that such a proposal include a
requirement that an attorney from outside the district read the local
rules before taking advantage of the rule excusing the attorney from
local admission. Thus "we can minimize the likelihood that the
lawyer's client will suffer ambush resulting from unfamiliarity with
local procedures." | Require that an
attorney from outside the district certify that s/he has read the local
rules before being allowed to practice there. |
NBRC-
1175 | Robert A. Colton | Chair, Business Law
Section of the Florida Bar |
|
|
| "It is the Section's
strenuous belief that any such "National Admission to
Practice" standard is not currently realistic or likely to be
workable until such time as there is a uniform standard for local rules
of court, local forms, court guidelines and clerk's instruction for each
bankruptcy court and/or judge in each federal district in the
country." Also, state law often applies. | "The Section does not currently support the Commission's
recommendation to allow attorneys to practice in any bankruptcy court in
any federal district int he country if they have been admitted to
practice in at least one bankrutpcy court in any federal district in the
country." |
