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I was driving to a conference a few weeks ago and had a chance to listen to the radio for the first time in awhile. The iPhone connection to the radio was working, but I couldn’t be bothered to fiddle with it to get my favorite podcasts. Instead, I decided to see what the local stations had in store for me.
My fingers stopped at an FM station with an evangelical preacher of some denomination. Usually I would flip to something with fast, poppy music but this guy’s voice kept me from going anywhere else on the dial. No clue who he was or where he was from, but he was a pretty smart guy.
He was talking about how it was his role to be a good (whatever he was), and that this role included spreading the word of (whomever’s word he was spreading). He talked about how true believers should not keep their beliefs bottled up, and how a failure to spread the gospel of X would cause the denomination to wilt and, ultimately, disappear.
One thing he said almost made me drive off the road and start writing.
Evangelize Or Fossilize
It made me immediately think about the implications to the legal profession – and to the bankruptcy bar specifically. Bankruptcy is needed by so many people, yet they run from it as a result of years of misinformation and disinformation. Consumers think bankruptcy is the end of the world, and that they’re branded as failures forever.
Bankruptcy lawyers know that isn’t the case, and that bouncing back from a bankruptcy filing can be (relatively) quick. But we sit behind our desks and take the defensive stance rather than evangelizing our position in public.
Why is that the case? Do we not believe in the power of our solution? Do we think of ourselves as snake-oil salespeople? Unlikely.
No matter what the reason, it’s incumbent upon us to go out there and educate the world about the truth of bankruptcy. We need to blog about not only the mechanics of bankruptcy but also the human element – the people who need it, the solutions they get, and help we provide.
We need to use all available social media tools to reach an audience who would otherwise be subject to myths.
We need to speak with reporters to tell them about how people who file for bankruptcy are able to re-enter the stream of commerce and contribute to society more readily than those who are swamped by overdue bills.
We know the truth about bankruptcy. We must spread the word. Not one person at a time, but one block at a time. Not because it’s right for everyone, but because the American consumer has been lied to by every major financial institution and deep-pocket lobbying organization.
We market our bankruptcy practices, but we fail to evangelize. We fail to educate. We fail to change opinions about what we do for people.
If we do not evangelize, we will fossilize.
What do you think?
Photo courtesy of D G Butcher.
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Just this morning I had a woman in I have been counseling for a number of months. I called her after the appointment to tell her the Judge on the case she is a def. in told me he's hold off on the summary judgment mot to give us time to file. She started sobbing into the phone that she 'doesn't believe in bankruptcy”.
She is only filing because she thinks that the suit is unfair. She says a prior lawyer settled and paid the claim. He is now dead, she has no paperwork, and the Plaintiff is LVNV, not original creditor.
There is more than 1 creditor she thinks is settled showing a balance on her credit report. The greedy collectors succeeded in convincing her to file a ch7.
Just this morning I had a woman in I have been counseling for a number of months. I called her after the appointment to tell her the Judge on the case she is a def. in told me he's hold off on the summary judgment mot to give us time to file. She started sobbing into the phone that she 'doesn't believe in bankruptcy”.
She is only filing because she thinks that the suit is unfair. She says a prior lawyer settled and paid the claim. He is now dead, she has no paperwork, and the Plaintiff is LVNV, not original creditor.
There is more than 1 creditor she thinks is settled showing a balance on her credit report. The greedy collectors succeeded in convincing her to file a ch7.