: The Alabama Lawyer Articles

FROM THE ALABAMA LAWYER – Subchapter V: A New Reorganization Model for Small Businesses

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Chapter 11 bankruptcy has been a graveyard for far too many small businesses. Too often, small businesses enter a Chapter 11 bankruptcy case only to have the bankruptcy case subsequently dismissed or converted to liquidation in Chapter 7.

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FROM THE ALABAMA LAWYER – Bankruptcy Sales (and Non-Bankruptcy Alternatives) for Buying and Selling Distressed Assets

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Rising interest rates, inflation, and a global economic slowdown create the perfect storm, pushing some companies into financial distress. These conditions can also create opportunities for investors to make strategic acquisitions of distressed assets.

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FROM THE ALABAMA LAWYER – Rebuttal: Alabama’s Gubernatorial and Legislative Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic Were Valid, Constitutional, and Appropriate

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As a lawyer who defends healthcare providers that continued to care for patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, I take a different view from my opposing counsel who published an article in the September edition of The Alabama Lawyer.[i] See David Wirtes, Jr., Joseph D. Steadman, Aaron N. Maples, & Joseph D. Wirtes, Are There Constitutional Issues with Alabama’s Gubernatorial and Legislative Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic?, 83 Ala. Law. 311 (Sept. 2022) (the “September Article”).

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FROM THE ALABAMA LAWYER – Too Broke to File Bankruptcy: Why We Need the Alabama Bankruptcy Assistance Project

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ABAP is a statewide project created to help debtors who need a chapter 7 bankruptcy but can’t afford the attorney’s fees to file. All five volunteer lawyer programs in the state participate, enabling ABAP to serve each of Alabama’s 67 counties.

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FROM THE ALABAMA LAWYER – Consumer Bankruptcy for the Non-Bankruptcy Lawyer: The Nuts and Bolts of Chapter 13 and Chapter 7

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That dreaded word – “bankruptcy!” No other area of practice quite strikes fear into the minds of state court practitioners and newbie attorneys than bankruptcy.

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FROM THE ALABAMA LAWYER – The Automatic Stay: What Every Lawyer Should Know

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Because bankruptcy can intervene into many other areas of the law, every lawyer, even ones who never practice in the bankruptcy courts, should be aware of the general provisions outlined in this article so that they and their clients can avoid violating the automatic stay.

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FROM THE ALABAMA LAWYER- Are There Constitutional Issues With Alabama’s Gubernatorial and Legislative Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic?

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The coronavirus known as COVID-19 reportedly infected the first American on January 21, 2020.[1] According to the Alabama Department of Health, Alabama has to date suffered 19,890 deaths[2] and 45,976[3] hospitalizations from the virus. In this same time period, 1,053,969 Americans have died,[4] while 92,761,865 Americans have been confirmed as infected.[5]

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FROM THE ALABAMA LAWYER- Alabama Qualified Dispositions in Trust Act

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Historically, grantors of trusts have had little asset protection afforded them where they name themselves as a beneficiary of a trust, even an irrevocable trust. Section 505(a)(2) of the Uniform Trust Code and its Alabama counterpart, § 19-3B-505(a)(2), Code of Alabama (1975), provide that “[w]ith respect to an irrevocable trust, a creditor or assignee of the grantor may reach the maximum amount that can be distributed to or for the grantor’s benefit.”

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FROM THE ALABAMA LAWYER- Who Do We Think We Are?

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In the final scenes of the movie “A Few Good Men” – one of the great classics of legal cinema – under dramatic, but extremely risky cross-examination by Lt. Daniel Kaffee (played by Tom Cruise), Col. Nathan Jessup (played by Jack Nicholson) admitted to directing the kind of “Code Red” discipline which led to the unintentional death of a Marine stationed at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

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FROM THE ALABAMA LAWYER- Says Who? Why Good Citation Matters (and Why It’s Easier Than You Think)

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A lawyer is a professional writer, but a lawyer’s purpose is not self-expression. A lawyer speaks (and writes) for someone else, to achieve a certain outcome, in a system governed by rules upon rules upon rules. It is technical, detailed work. Its hallmarks are clarity and precision. The purpose of legal writing is not principally to stir the soul but to satisfy a skeptical mind. A lawyer hoping to persuade another lawyer or judge to accept some position must write in a way that answers obvious questions.

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