Archive for November, 2010

Five Important Issues on Hiring a Lawyer

Posted on: November 18th, 2010 by SharonM No Comments

Five important factors to consider in hiring a lawyer are the following. First, do you need a board-certified specialist or do you need an attorney experienced in the general area of law concerning your issues? Unless your case involves a highly technical area of law such as tax or patent law, you may be well served with an experienced attorney who has dealt with substantially similar cases either on a transactional or litigation basis. Discuss this concern as far as credentials and experience with the attorney at your first meeting.

Secondly, ask the attorney whether it is likely that your case will have to be resolved through litigation. If so, you need to know whether the attorney  has actually been the first chair or lead attorney in a trial, how many trials, and whether any of the trials were to a jury.

Thirdly, you need to inquire whether there are any potential conflicts of interest between your representation and this prospective attorney. This could involve a prior representation by the attorney or his firm of a former business partner of yours, former spouse, former employer, your opposing party in this lawsuit, etc.

Fourthly, you need to ask what will be the scope of representation or the planned work to be undertaken by the lawyer if you hire him or her. Will there be documents drafted, negotiations undertaken, discovery conducted, etc.? Is litigation contemplated and if so, what will be the nature of the claims and against what party or parties?

Finally, you need to ask for a formal writing called a retainer agreement that will clearly set forth how the attorney will be compensated. Will it be an hourly fee, a fixed fee, a contingent fee based upon only a successful outcome, or some combination? How will costs be billed? Will a monthly billing statement be sent?

Answers to all of the foregoing will establish a clear understanding between you and the prospective lawyer as to the nature of the representation being taken. For more information, call the Harris County Bar Association at 713-236-8000 or email: contact@harriscountybar.com

New rules proposed for bankruptcy

Posted on: November 17th, 2010 by SharonM No Comments

The United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas has proposed new local rules to be effective Jan. 1, 2011. The first major category of change concerns a simplified mechanism of approval of a debtor’s plan of repayments for a Chapter 13 plan. Once the creditor’s meeting with the debtor and trustee is concluded, the trustee will file a recommendation concerning the plan proposed by the debtor. If the trustee recommends it and there is no objection timely from anyone, the judge may even confirm the plan without a further hearing or at least not require the debtor’s presence. This is a time-saver for the debtor and avoids the client having to miss work unnecessarily. The second major change concerns plan modifications necessary after a plan has already been approved. If the debtor wants to change the plan, the debtor’s attorney must either file a new amended wage order for withholding or make new electronic pay arrangements. Further, the Court plans to issued a new uniform motion to amended confirmed plans to deal with situations where mortgage amounts are changed or reset, thus changing the amount of the debtor’s plan payments. Again, the goal is to achieve consistency and benefit the debtor in having the correct amount withheld from pay to satisfy a variable mortgage and avoid being in default. Too often, various or different courts will require entirely different data to allow the approval of a plan modification and resulting different wage order. The problem with such delay is that the debtor can begin inadvertently falling behind on required mortgage payments if the debtor is in a variable rate plan and the mortgage amount has increased. A creditor’s right to object to the debtor using a plan amendment rather than a full plan modification is preserved under the proposed new rules.