By Diane Weiss Sigmund, United States Bankruptcy Judge (Ret.), Eastern District of Pennsylvania

“Your honor, I am here today on a motion for relief.  My client is present to testify if you think it is necessary.  What would you like to hear?”
In my fifteen years on the bankruptcy bench, I heard way too often that well-meaning prefatory statement from attorneys pressing contested matters.  And even when the attorney did not overtly seek the court’s assistance in presenting his case, it soon became clear from the questions asked, that insufficient thought had been given to what . . .

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