Oh, how I wish I could make it all “easy” for you – and I will make it as easy as possible – but nothing about bankruptcy is really, truly easy. Certainly there’s nothing “easy” about the decision; for most folks, it’s one of the hardest decisions they’ll ever make. I can’t make that decision “easy,” but I can help make it easier. First, I’ll help you make the decision correctly, which will make it easier for you to do the other things you need to do. At our first meeting, I will explain how the system works – especially, how the system works with your particular circumstances – and what options you have, so you can then more easily make intelligent choices. Indeed, that might be the most valuable service I provide for people, and usually I give that away – that’s mostly what I do in my free initial consultations.

After that, what’s “easy” depends on what you think is easy. If you already do everything on your computer and find it easiest to send us all the necessary information and documents online, great. If you’d rather sit down with me and go through your box of papers as we fill out the forms, that’s fine, too – or anything in between. The point is, we’ll do things the way you find easy.

“High-tech” might mean “easy” to some people, but if you’re one of those who would rather not use a computer if you don’t have to, don’t worry – I’ll take care of the “high-tech” stuff so you don’t have to. Whatever you find easy, that’s how we’ll do it. “Technology,” after all, is just a set of tools that we might use. You don’t have to use any of them; I will use my high-tech tools to make it easy for you.

Every modern law office uses computers and the web, every day, and every bankruptcy lawyer uses electronic filing – the courts require it. Many lawyers demand that their clients fill out the necessary questionnaires on-line; others, afraid of scaring away clients who are not comfortable with technology, use only the paper questionnaire forms. I don’t care; I prefer to let you do it however you find easy.

If you’re high-tech, that’s easy. I prepare all my cases on my computer, using state-of-the-art software (Best Case – the best in the business), and I file everything with the court electronically, over the web. And I’ve got the Best Case add-in “MyCaseInfo,” which lets you fill out the questionnaire on-line, at your convenience, and send it to me with one mouse-click. (I’ll still have to do a lot of work with the information you provide, but that’s my problem, not yours!) We can communicate mostly by email, if that’s what you find easiest – indeed, we hardly have to meet at all, if that’s what works best for you.

“Make it easy” is not merely a slogan, it’s the way I do business. I don’t try to make it easy just for my clients; I try to make it easy for everybody I work with. At the court, I want to make it easy for the clerks, because they’re the ones who actually get things done. With trustees, I want to make it easy for the trustee (and assistants; they’re like the court’s clerks), because every case has to make it through at least one trustee. Obviously, with opposing counsel, I don’t want to make everything easy – not when we have an issue where we’re actually “opposed” – but most of the time, “opposing counsel” isn’t actually trying to oppose anything we want, and amicable, even friendly, relationships make it easier to get the case through the system and finished – which serves everybody’s interests.

They all know I want to do things easy, as long as it’s right – I never ask the court or trustee to do anything wrong, let alone “illegal,” and I do my homework first, so they know when I do ask for something, I’m asking them to do the right thing, the right way. In short, I’ve earned a good reputation; they all know I will make it as easy as I can for them to do the right thing, the right way, so my client gets what she needs without undue delay.

Sadly, that doesn’t mean “quick,” as normal human beings use the term. “Undue delay” is a long time; “due delay,” if you want to call it that, is the norm. “Due delay” – the norm in the law – is SLOW by normal human terms. The law is designed to operate slowly, because it’s designed to address important matters, no matter how complicated. Whatever their complaint, everybody’s entitled to their day in court. Everybody is entitled to a bite at the apple – but, generally, just one bite, just one lawsuit per issue. It’s more important to get it done right than to get it done quickly, so everyone is entitled to a reasonably generous amount of time to prepare – and more time if new issues arise – and those delays are built into the system. So, when a lawyer speaks of “haste,” it’s usually in the context of “with all due deliberate haste” – which is to say, not too damned hasty, because it’s “deliberate” haste – we’re going to think carefully about what we’re doing, and listen to what everybody has to say about it, and then think some more, first, before we act.

I want to make it easy for you – but what’s easy for one person is not necessarily what’s easy for another. I don’t know exactly what you find easy, so I can’t say exactly how I’ll do things with you. Of course you are now reading this on my website, so what’s written here presumes you’re comfortable working on the web, but if there’s another way you find easier, just let me know.

I want to make it “easy,” but of course there are some things we can’t avoid; and I’d be lying if I said I can make them all easy. First, there’s the decision to file bankruptcy, or at least to consider it; and for most folks that’s the most difficult thing of all. It’s a tough decision; indeed, most folks won’t even consider bankruptcy until it’s practically the only option left. Then, once you’ve decided – or, as the case may be, realized – that you need to file bankruptcy, you’ve got to find and choose a lawyer. (I can make that one easy – choose me!) Finally, once you choose a lawyer and make the decision to file bankruptcy, the lawyer (no matter who!) is going to give you an obnoxiously-long questionnaire to complete, and an obnoxiously-long list of documents needed. Few people would say it’s “easy” to figure out the answers to all those questions and find all those documents, especially when they’ve been doing everything they can, for months, to AVOID thinking about those ugly details! I can’t actually promise to make it all completely, painlessly “easy” – but whenever there’s a chance to make it easier, I’m there.

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