Generally, whether a local bankruptcy attorney should be retained to represent the client, as opposed to an attorney who is geographically much farther away, depends on the definition of “local” and the complexity of the proposed bankruptcy case.

I always recommend to prospective clients who are making the decision of which bankruptcy attorney to hire that they select an attorney who is “local” in the sense that he or she knows the bankruptcy trustees, the bankruptcy judges, and other bankruptcy professionals in the area in which the case will be filed. This is important because a “local” attorney in this sense will generally have more credibility with these various professionals, trustees, and judges, and may obtain a more favorable outcome for the client than if he or she was completely unknown within the bankruptcy community. Most bankruptcy communities, including the one in the San Francisco Bay Area, are very small. This means that most frequent practitioners of bankruptcy know the other attorneys who commonly practice in the area. The more complex the bankruptcy case, the more important it is to have local bankruptcy counsel representing the client, as in complex cases, there is a much greater chance that multiple hearings and communications will be needed with the court, the trustee, and other professionals. A client represented by good local counsel with significant bankruptcy experience will almost always be able to obtain a more favorable outcome for a client than bankruptcy counsel with equivalent experience, but who is unknown in the community and has no intrinsic credibility with the court, the trustees, or other professionals.

At the same time, “local” bankruptcy counsel need not mean counsel that is literally in the same city as the client. Frequently, counsel only needs to be “local” enough to have a good relationship with the court, the trustees, and other professionals. Accordingly, usually hiring counsel who frequently practices anywhere in the same district as the bankruptcy court in which the case will be filed is sufficient. For example, Nova Law Group is located in Mountain View, CA and meets with bankruptcy clients at its office location. However, Nova Law Group represents clients throughout the entire San Francisco Bay Area, including Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Menlo Park, East Palo Alto, Palo Alto, Cupertino, Santa Clara, San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, and many other communities throughout the South Bay, East Bay, North Bay, and the mid-peninsula. Accordingly, Nova Law Group can expertly represent a bankruptcy client who needs debtor or creditor representation regarding bankruptcy cases filed anywhere in the greater San Francisco Bay Area, including the San Jose, San Francisco, and Oakland divisions of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California.

Stated differently, Nova Law Group practices bankruptcy law and is “local counsel” anywhere in the San Francisco Bay Area, and as a result, a client need not be in Mountain View, CA or even the mid-peninsula to retain Nova Law Group. This provides important flexibility for clients, because there are many other factors to consider when hiring a bankruptcy attorney, such as skill, intellectual ability, experience as a bankruptcy attorney, cost, availability, customer service and personality, and dedication to serving the client, all of which matter just as much or more than geographical location.

Accordingly, whether you or your company is a resident of Mountain View, CA, or anywhere else in the Northern District of California, Nova Law Group can assist you with your bankruptcy needs. We also assist individuals and companies as creditor counsel located anywhere in the world, as long as the bankruptcy case in which the client is a creditor is pending in the Northern District of California. Please call a Nova Law Group attorney if interested and we will be happy to assist you.