On More Effective Writing

(Used with permission. First published in the Southern District of Florida Courthouse Beacon, December 2021)

Imagine this is an article entitled Wiley Champion, Esq. Instructs How To Win Your Case Every Time. Enticing for sure. You start reading. The opening paragraph needlessly re-states the title, needlessly names the author, who is already mentioned in the title, and then defines the author with a short name that is unnecessary and distracting. The second, third and fourth paragraphs include a lot of confusing history. You have no idea why you are reading that history . . .

It looks like you are not signed in or registered! This content is only available to members.

Or Sign In Below:

Hon. Erik P. Kimball

United States Bankruptcy Judge, Southern District of Florida, West Palm Beach Division

Hon. Erik P. Kimball, Chief United States Bankruptcy Judge, Southern District of Florida, West Palm Beach Division. Erik P. Kimball serves as Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge in the Southern District of Florida. He was appointed in 2008 and reappointed in 2022. Judge Kimball received his J.D. from Boston College Law School in 1990 and his B.A. from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1987. Judge Kimball began his legal practice at Hale and Dorr (now WilmerHale) in the firm’s Boston office. He twice left legal practice to work in the mutual fund industry as an investment professional. At the time of his judicial appointment in 2008, Judge Kimball was a shareholder at Akerman in the firm’s Orlando office. In legal practice, he specialized in representation of institutional investors and indenture trustees in connection with defaults of publicly traded debt securities.

Today’s AI Stands to Create Work for Lawyers

Cathy Moran

June 25, 2023

Most lawyers were torn between wincing and laughing when a lawyer filed a brief packed with case authority created out of whole cloth by an AI bot. Meanwhile, a segment of the bar is fretting that we will be replaced by powerful artificial intelligence. My concern, based on a couple of casual forays into AI, is not that I will...

Members

Consumer Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2020 Introduced

December 13, 2020

By Hon. William Houston Brown, Adviser, Academy for Consumer Bankruptcy Education and Margaret A. Burks, Chapter 13 Trustee (Cincinnati, OH) Senator Elizabeth Warren (D. Mass.) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D. N.Y.) have introduced the Consumer Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2020. Introduction of the Act is only the beginning of the legislative process, and no action toward enactment...

The Collector

The Academy

January 14, 2024

Bankruptcy Judge (E.D. Washington) serves up classics with wooden tennis racket collection.

The Case of the Naked Client

Cathy Moran

December 10, 2023

“The bankruptcy petition came to my desk for review with no entry for “clothing and wearing apparel”. Funny, I think I’d remember if I’d interviewed any naked people lately.” Although filled with Attorney Moran’s wit, there is an important lesson here! Feel free to add your own ‘naked client’ story in the comments section below the article.

Members

Just the Facts, Ma’am – Consolidated Appropriations Act, December 27, 2020

January 10, 2021

By The Honorable William Houston Brown (Retired) This legislation includes several bankruptcy-related provisions, in addition to government funding and other COVID relief. Consumer bankruptcy issues are addressed in Title X of the Act, section 1001, which amends Bankruptcy Code § 541(b)’s exclusions from property of the estate, adding subsection 11 for certain coronavirus relief, defined as “recovery rebates made under...

Members

Critical Case Comment – Bad Faith to Not Pay Both Tests?

Henry E. Hildebrand, III

February 27, 2022

Chapter 13 debtor is not obligated to pay both the disposable income pool and the best interest of creditors test pool to achieve confirmation, only the larger of the two; it is not a manifestation of bad faith that the debtor does not pay both the disposable income pool and the best interest of creditors test amounts. (Altenberger) In re...

Members

Critical Case Comment

Henry E. Hildebrand, III

April 17, 2022

In re Galloway, 2022 WL 1017951 (Bankr. N.D. Ill. April 5, 2022) A Chapter 13 trustee’s final audit and notice of completion of payments is not necessary or a precondition to the court granting a discharge to a debtor who has satisfied the requirements of § 1328. (Judge Thorne) Case Summary Tara Galloway filed a Chapter 13 petition in May...

Members

Automatic Stay Denial of Stay Relief was Final and Appealable, Although It Was “Without Prejudice.”

The Honorable William Houston Brown

April 10, 2022

Selected Consumer Opinions Since January 1, 2022 Automatic Stay Denial of stay relief was final and appealable, although it was “without prejudice.”Deciding an issue not addressed in Ritzen Grp., Inc. v. Jackson Masonry, LLC, 140 S.Ct. 582 (2020), the Ninth Circuit concluded that the bankruptcy court’s order denying stay relief was final and appealable, despite its “without prejudice” language, because...

Members

Eleventh Circuit Adopts the Path of Leased Resistance in Chapter 13

August 2, 2020

By Chris Hawkins, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP (Birmingham, AL) The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit recently issued an opinion that may have far-reaching procedural implications for debtors and trustees in Chapter 13 cases. In Microf LLC v. Cumbess, the court articulated multiple canons of statutory interpretation in holding that a chapter 13 debtor’s proposal to...

Members

Is Nunc Pro Tunc Really Sunk?

December 20, 2020

By James M. Davis, Staff Attorney to Chapter 13 Standing Trustee Henry E. Hildebrand, III (Nashville, TN) Bankruptcy Courts take determinations from the Supreme Court seriously. And rightfully so. But sometimes, some bankruptcy courts are guilty of reading too much into the Court’s statements. The latest example is the soul searching around “nunc pro tunc” (“now for then”) orders. Earlier...

Members