Bankruptcy

Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 consumer bankruptcies. I handle cases in Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, and Riverside counties.

• Chapter 7
• Credit Disputes
• Chapter 11
• Credit Repair
• Credit Restoration
• Creditor Harassment
• Personal Bankruptcy
• Foreclosures

Real Estate

Residential and commercial tenants. I handle cases in Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, and Riverside counties.

• Tenant
• Tenants' Rights

• Mold Claims
• Mortgages
• Real Estate Loans
• Renting & Leasing
• Landlord
• Tenant
• Tenants' Rights

CA, May 2008
Bar Number: 255744

Central District of California and Southern District of California.

Los Angeles County Bar Association and Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles.

I attend continuing legal education seminars on a variety of matters related to consumer law and litigation.

Co-author, "Should Lawyers Advise their Meso Clients on Treatment Options?" Asbestos Magazine, January 2008.

Co-author, Finding Birds on the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail, Texas A&M Press, 2008.
Asbestos Disease Compensation in Japan, Mealey's International Asbestos Liability Report, January 2009.

Chapter 7 Bankruptcy: Los Angeles Client was facing foreclosure due her business's decreased income. By discharging her credit card debts she was able to reaffirm her mortgage, get an expedited application for a loan modification, stay in her home, and focus on returning her business to profitability.

Chapter 7 Bankruptcy: Orange County Client had lost his job and was being harassed by creditors, including attempts to garnish his wages. By discharging the judgments against him and discharging his other consumer debts, he was able to stabilize his finances, assist his daughter with college payments, and eliminate harassment by his creditors.

1

California

I began practicing law in California 2008, and opened my own practice in Los Angeles in January, 2009.

Californians are fortunate to live in a state that provides extensive protection to consumers. However, the cost of bankruptcy legal services in Los Angeles often makes it difficult or impossible to hire a lawyer. My practice focuses on access, affordability, and expertise. The majority of my bankruptcy clients are poor, low income, or moderate income consumers who are suffering from crushing debt. The debt is often the result of a divorce, medical issue, or job-related issue that has forced the client to rely on credit cards to cover basic living expenses. Spiraling finance charges, late charges, and interest rates eventually drive the client into a financial situation that makes it impossible to pay for even basic necessities. Other clients find themselves working jobs with reduced pay, or having to support another family member who has been laid off in the recession. Those unplanned payments can suddenly make major expenses such as a home mortgage difficult or impossible to pay.

My practice, which is based in Los Angeles and handles bankruptcy cases throughout Southern California, helps consumers make smart choices about which debts to discharge, which debts to keep, and which strategies to use when it's time to reorganize personal finances. Although many clients begin the bankruptcy process embarrassed or ashamed about their need for bankruptcy protection, I educate them that bankruptcy is a right enshrined in Article 1, Section 8, clause 4 of the U.S. Constitution and codified in federal law.

Just as banks and credit card companies have legal, morally unblameworthy rights to collect debts, Americans have the same legal, morally unblameworthy rights to seek protection under the bankruptcy laws to either discharge their debts or reorganize their finances. I encourage clients to understand that when General Motors filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the corporation wasn't embarrassed, ashamed, or in any way hanging its head as a "bankrupt." To the contrary, it aggressively sought protection from its creditors and advocated vociferously for a reorganization plan that would allow it to survive. Consumers should take the same approach: bankruptcy is a right, it affords extraordinary protection under federal law, and it should be invoked when needed without fear or self-reproach.

My definition of a successful bankruptcy is not simply one where debts are discharged or reorganized, but where consumers benefit from bankruptcy protection as a way to make permanent, positive changes in their financial health. I make sure that before a client chooses bankruptcy we investigate all of the options, including settlement of certain debts as a way to avoid bankruptcy entirely. Having a bankruptcy attorney negotiating with a creditor almost always tells the creditor that you're serious about filing for bankruptcy and not simply threatening bankruptcy as leverage to negotiate down the debt. Oftentimes, the one debt that is driving the entire decision to file bankruptcy can be successfully negotiated with payment amounts and payment intervals that allow the consumer to avoid filing. By handling each case personally, and working to understand the unique circumstances behind each client, it's possible to come out stronger than before.

Before deciding to become an attorney, I worked as an office manager and marketing director for a Southern California law firm in San Pedro that represented asbestos cancer victims.

I'm a referral attorney for the Los Angeles County Bar Association and for the Legal Aid Society of Orange County , and also provide free monthly consultations after hours for low-income clients at Community Lawyers Inc. in Compton.

Monday through Friday
8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Weekends and after hours by appointment.

Yes

Spanish, Japanese and German.

I charge $1,700 for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, and $3,300 for a Chapter 13. These are my legal fees only, and do not include filing fees, credit counseling and financial management course fees required by the court, and do not include additional fees if your case is complex, if your schedules have to be amended, if there are adversary proceedings within your bankruptcy, if there are additional court appearances required beyond the 341 meeting of creditors and plan approval hearing, or if there are motions or other actions in your case beyond the basics. Most Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 cases are resolved for the flat fees outlined above.

$250. However, simple flat fee bankruptcy cases are not billed hourly.

Yes, thirty minutes, by phone or in person.

No.