Bankruptcy, Boutique Law Firms, Midsize Firms / Regional Firms, Small Law Firm Open Threads, Solo Practitioners

Small Law Firm Open Thread: Bankruptcy

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Time to resume our series of open threads covering small (or smaller) law firms, focused on different practice areas. We’ve already written about small law firms in general, insurance law, personal injury law, trusts and estates, immigration, real estate, intellectual property, ERISA / employee benefits, and family law / divorce law. Some of these threads are still active (or could be resuscitated), so do check in on them.
Today we turn to the booming field of BANKRUPTCY. This practice area might seem depressing, given its focus on financial distress, but some people find it quite sexy.
A long time ago, the field was generally shunned by large firms, so that most firms doing bankruptcy were on the smaller side. But Biglaw embraced bankruptcy years ago, and it’s probably glad it did. The bankruptcy departments of large law firms are super-busy these days, providing a partial hedge to the weakness on the transactional side.
What about bankruptcy boutiques — how are they doing? Some material to kick off the discussion, after the jump.


One practitioner, who works for a small firm representing individual debtors, had this to say:

I do consumer bankruptcy, and it’s good work. The bankruptcy community is fun, and I like knowing that I’m making a transformative difference in people’s lives. That said, I feel like I didn’t go to law school so I could sit on the phone and explain “no, we need sixty days of paystubs” over and over and over and over and over and over again.

My firm doesn’t provide Westlaw or legal malpractice insurance, and taking hard or issue-laden cases is explicitly discouraged. We’re a mill, and we can churn through six grandmas on Social Security in the time it takes to figure out one complicated tax case. I’m basically happy, but I don’t feel like a lawyer, not really. This wasn’t the daydream.

Fair enough. But we suspect this lawyer has great job security, at least as long as unemployment remains around 10 percent and residential mortgage defaults continue to run high.
What if you’re interested in doing Biglaw-style bankruptcy work in the small-firm environment? That’s an option too. From a clerk to a bankruptcy judge:

High-level sophisticated bankruptcy work can be had at small or boutique bankruptcy shops throughout New York City. Pachulski Stang and Togut, Segal & Segal are two that come to mind. With the creation of conflicts counsel in bankruptcy as well as committee counsel, a small firm can represent very large creditor bodies or get involved with huge debtors. Togut is conflicts counsel for Jones Day in Chrysler, and Pachulski repped the creditor’s committee in Circuit City.

The work is going to be heavy, but it is going to be substantive. My understanding is that the pay is comparable to Biglaw, although maybe around 10% less.

Do you work for a small firm that does bankruptcy / creditor’s rights work? If so, we’d love to hear from you in the comments. Please share (anonymous) information about the nature of your work, your hours, your pay, and your overall level of job satisfaction. Thanks.
Earlier: Prior small law firm open threads

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