By: Jeena Cho

Have you been meaning to call for an appointment but afraid to? You might be wondering, what happens at a meeting with a bankruptcy attorney? Well, for one thing, I promise you, it won’t hurt a bit, and you might even feel better.

• When you call our office, our receptionist will schedule a time for you to meet with either myself or my partner Jeff Curl. It will usually be about 1-2 weeks out.

• We send you a two-page questionnaire to fill out and send to us before the meeting. It asks for basic information: amount of debt, amount of income, and assets/liabilities.

• The meetings generally last from 45 minutes to 1 hour. Either Jeff or I will meet you personally. We don’t believe a paralegal can assess your situation as competently as an attorney can.

We do the following at the consultation: Listen, Ask, Answer, and Analyze.

Listen

Go ahead, tell us your story. What happened that led you to this point? Tell us the obvious, but also tell us about you. What do you do? What do you enjoy? What are you passionate about? I listen to people all day long and I love it.

Ask

I’ll ask you questions so that I can assess your situation and make sure I did not miss any important details.

Answer

Of course, you’ll have questions for me. I will do my best to answer all of your questions. Sometimes, a referral may be in order. I only practice bankruptcy law. I can’t help with tax, real estate, family law, immigration, etc. I have good people I can refer you to.

Analyze

The next step is for me to analyze your situation to determine if bankruptcy is an appropriate solution for you. We will also discuss other alternatives (if any). Just as it would be unethical for a doctor to recommend an unnecessary surgery, it would be unethical for me to recommend bankruptcy unless I believed it was in your best interest. We build our practice based on trust, and by exceeding your expectations so that you will refer your friends and family.

One other important thing to add is that the meetings are privileged - meaning whatever you tell me can never leave the room.

Disclaimer: We are San Francisco bankruptcy attorneys. Unless you have hired JC Law Group as your attorney, there is no attorney-client relationship. This article is not intended to be legal advice. Please consult with a San Francisco bankruptcy attorney about your particular situation.