Here’s a heads-up for Massachusetts bankruptcy lawyers: Judge Joan Feeney in Boston has been taking a hard line on enforcement of the court’s 2013 standing order on attorney fees and representation.
The standing order requires attorneys who have filed an appearance in a bankruptcy case to represent their clients in motions, contested matters, and adversary proceedings that challenge dischargeability.
Any blanket strike through of line 5 (d) of the required attorney fee disclosure form (relating to adversary proceedings and contested matters) will be flagged by Judge Feeney, and will result in a show cause order being issued for potential fee disgorgement.
It is easy to use your bankruptcy preparation software to strike this line out as a way of indicating that the stated fee does not include work on post filing litigation.
However, at least in Judge Feeney’s court, this runs afoul of the standing order, as she will interpret it as a prohibited blanket refusal to represent clients in adversaries.
So what to do? Work for free? Its not that bad. A written fee agreement that contains hourly rates for post filing litigation in addition to the basic fee is acceptable to the court — just make sure everything is in writing, documented on the attorney fee disclosure form, and don’t strike though line 5 (d)!
So far at least, I have not seen any of the other Massachusetts bankruptcy judges issue show cause orders on this.
by Doug Beaton