'Don't File!': Rehabilitating Unauthorized Practice of Law-Based Policies in the Credit Counseling Industry

American Bankruptcy Law Journal, Vol. 79, p. 51, 2005

28 Pages Posted: 2 Jul 2009 Last revised: 5 Jul 2009

Date Written: 2005

Abstract

The Article extends beyond the current controversy surrounding the growing credit counseling industry and suggests that credit counselors' recommendations to consumers about the proper timing of a Chapter 13 bankruptcy petition constitute the unauthorized practice of law. In the past, credit counseling was generally limited to lawyers because of courts' and legislators' perceived inability of anyone other than an attorney to represent a debtor's financial interests objectively. Increasingly, legislators exempted non-profit credit counselors from such prohibitory statutes. The Article argues that unauthorized practice of law-based policies should be rehabilitated to provide a framework for regulating the credit counseling industry.

Keywords: credit counseling, unauthorized practice of law, bankruptcy

Suggested Citation

Krivinskas Shepard, Lea, 'Don't File!': Rehabilitating Unauthorized Practice of Law-Based Policies in the Credit Counseling Industry (2005). American Bankruptcy Law Journal, Vol. 79, p. 51, 2005, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1427207

Lea Krivinskas Shepard (Contact Author)

Loyola University Chicago School of Law ( email )

25 E. Pearson
Chicago, IL 60611
United States
3129156325 (Phone)

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