Courtroom Experience in Bankruptcy Clinic Affords Foreign Lawyer Invaluable Know-How

The Eleanor R. Cristol and Judge A. Jay Cristol Bankruptcy Pro Bono Assistance Clinic at Miami Law offers pro bono legal services to low-income individuals who are dealing with bankruptcy.




The Bankruptcy Clinic, directed by bankruptcy expert Patricia Redmond, gives the opportunity for students with an interest in business law and litigation to gain hands-on experience representing clients.

LL.M. to J.D. student, Ana Paula Carrijo Barroso from Brazil, successfully argued a Motion to Reinstate client’s bankruptcy case in Bankruptcy Court. Working under the supervision of local attorney Jeffrey Bast, who serves as a clinic mentor, she represented the client in a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy.

Lawyering Skills in Action

The Brazilian attorney chose the Bankruptcy Clinic with a purpose.

“I decided to apply for the Bankruptcy Clinic because I wanted to challenge myself. I had never studied nor worked with bankruptcy before. I was also looking forward to improving my writing and oral skills, and I had heard about the excellent preparing offered by the Bankruptcy Clinic,” says Carrijo Barroso.

For this case, she dove in and worked “hands-on from day one.” She not only drafted the Motion to Reinstate the Case and prepared the schedules in a 3-hours in-person

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November 15, 2022 by ATTORNEY

Bankruptcy judge denies Chris Pettit’s bid to get out of jail

SAN ANTONIO — Christopher “Chris” Pettit will remain in jail after a bankruptcy court judge ruled Wednesday that the disgraced former lawyer had not done enough to clear himself of a contempt of court charge.

Telling Pettit he holds the keys to his jail cell, Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Craig Gargotta set 17 conditions the ex-attorney must satisfy to be released. First on the list is that Pettit turn over a business laptop to the trustee administering the bankruptcy estate. Pettit has given conflicting accounts regarding its whereabouts.

“It would really move things along if Mr. Pettit would come clean about what happened with regard to the laptop, good or bad, so we could move on in this case,” Gargotta said. The laptop purportedly contains information the trustee wants regarding Pettit’s clients and their funds.

“I’m not suggesting he say this, but if Mr. Pettit were to say, ‘I destroyed it’ … then if that really was the truth, then we would know … that as a result (the trustee and creditors are) not going to get that information,” the judge added. “Really, what’s at issue here is just saying where it is.”

On ExpressNews.com:

One of Chris Pettit’s largest

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November 13, 2022 by ATTORNEY

Elon Musk tells Twitter staff that bankruptcy isn’t out of the question: report

Elon Musk tells Twitter staff that bankruptcy isn’t out of the question: report

Twitter owner Elon Musk told employees on Thursday that he is not sure how much run rate the company has and that bankruptcy is not out of the question, the Managing Editor of tech newsletter Platformer tweeted.

Musk is participating in an all-hands meeting with Twitter employees, a source told Reuters.

Twitter did not immediately reply to an emailed request for comment from Reuters.

The revelation came after reports that several top executives have jumped Musk’s sinking ship — including Yoel Roth, the company’s Head of Safety & Integrity, and Chief Security Officer Lea Kissner.

Chief Privacy Officer Damien Kieran and Chief Compliance Officer Marianne Fogarty have also resigned, according to an internal message seen by Reuters.

The exodus follows Musk’s move to swiftly clean house after taking over Twitter for $44 billion on Oct. 27. He announced plans to cut half its workforce last week, promised to stop fake accounts and is charging $8 a month for the Twitter Blue service that will include a blue check verification.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission said it was watching Twitter with “deep concern” after the social media platform’s top privacy and compliance officers quit, potentially putting it at risk of violating

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November 12, 2022 by ATTORNEY

Musk warns of Twitter bankruptcy as more senior executives quit

Musk warns of Twitter bankruptcy as more senior executives quit

Nov 10 (Reuters) – Twitter Inc’s new owner Elon Musk on Thursday raised the possibility of the social media platform going bankrupt, capping a chaotic day that included a warning from a U.S. privacy regulator and the exit of the company’s trust and safety leader.

The billionaire on his first mass call with employees said that he could not rule out bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported, two weeks after buying it for $44 billion – a deal that credit experts say has left Twitter’s finances in a precarious position.

Earlier in the day, in his first company-wide email, Musk warned that Twitter would not be able to “survive the upcoming economic downturn” if it fails to boost subscription revenue to offset falling advertising income, three people who have seen the message told Reuters.

Yoel Roth, who has overseen Twitter’s response to combat hate speech, misinformation and spam on the service, resigned on Thursday, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

In his Twitter profile on Thursday, Roth described himself as “Former Head of Trust & Safety” at the company.

Roth did not respond to requests for comment. Bloomberg and tech site Platformer reported his exit first.

Earlier on Thursday, Twitter’s

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November 11, 2022 by ATTORNEY

Biomass company with plants in Maine files for bankruptcy

A company that owns biomass electricity plants in West Enfield and Jonesboro and had access to millions in state subsidies to help it stay afloat has filed for bankruptcy, stating it owes $17.8 million to creditors including an energy market investor, the states of Maine and New Hampshire, and Maine loggers.

Stored Solar LLC and all but one of its subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Bangor. Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code provides a way for companies to reorganize their operations.

The filing comes six years after Maine lawmakers passed a $13 million bailout of the state’s biomass industry, which uses waste wood to produce electricity, with the aim of preserving electric plants and logging jobs.

Stored Solar was one of two companies to benefit from the subsidy package, which used taxpayer dollars to guarantee biomass producers above-market prices for their electricity. But the company, which bought the West Enfield and Jonesboro plants in 2016 after previous owner Covanta shut them down, only ran the plants intermittently following the bailout’s passage.

The West Enfield plant hasn’t produced power since December 2020 while the Jonesboro plant last produced power earlier this year,

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November 8, 2022 by ATTORNEY
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