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

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.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 28

Keywords: credit counseling, unauthorized practice of law, bankruptcy

Accepted Paper Series