Living in semi-arid California, I’ve gotten used to seeing large columns of smoke on hot, windy days. Most recently, I could see the Springs Fire burning between Camarillo and Malibu from a distance, Fortunately, it did little damage Read more >>
May 14, 2013
I have a bankruptcy client who had been a high-earning executive with an ad agency. But he lost his job, savings and even retirement nest egg in the real estate crash. He now lives in a rental in the Valley Read more >>
April 24, 2013
It used to be that a medical degree was a ticket to a relatively secure life: in exchange for spending years achieving at school and amassing formidable learning, and just showing up at your practice for 50 or more hours a week Read more >>
April 19, 2013
I like to say that I am involved in “capitalist recycling.” In a capitalist, free-market society, there are people who win and there are people who lose. Those people who do not win and cannot function economically because of crushing debt Read more >>
March 7, 2013
In the last three years, my wife and I have lost three of our four parents: two parents died of lung cancer, one of Parkinson’s Disease. In each case, I was struck by how little end of life guidance the medical community gave us. Read more »
January 21, 2013
The Absolute Priority Rule is an arcane part of the Bankruptcy Code (see 11 USC § 1129(b)(2)(B)(ii)). It says that, in a Chapter 11 plan, lower classes of creditors cannot be paid anything unless higher classes have either been paid in full Read more >>
January 18, 2013
“Impossible,” you’re probably thinking. But it’s not. Here’s why. Read more »
December 26, 2012
He had a great mansion in Lake Sherwood, near Thousand Oaks, but when his financial-services firm fell apart, so did his life. Baseball legend Lenny Dykstra, who went through bankruptcy in 2009 (claiming about $25 million in assets and $37 million in debts), thought he could hide assets Read more >>
December 3, 2012
The IRS has seized Lindsay Lohan’s bank accounts. It appears that she owes about $233,000 in back taxes. Read more »
December 13, 2012
Attorneys often try to hide a client’s information, disclosing as little as possible. This legal strategy sometimes has comical effects, as in this exchange I heard in a deposition:Read more >>
October 15, 2012
