1973, February, Pg. 1. What Lawyers Should Know About Chapters X and XI.

• Author: by Richard P. Matsch

2 Colo.Law. 1

The Colorado Lawyer

1973.

1973, February, Pg. 1.

What Lawyers Should Know About Chapters X and XI

1Vol. 2, No. 4, Pg. 1What Lawyers Should Know About Chapters X and XIby Richard P. MatschRichard P. Matsch is Referee in Bankruptcy, United States District Court, District of Colorado.There are many who perceive the practice of bankruptcy law to be the exercise of an arcane art reserved to those peculiar cultists who have a taste for carrion. Whether such a view is the product of inertia, an obsession with specialization, or simply aesthetic distaste, the resulting ostracism of a very active and pervasive area of law can only be damaging to those who otherwise consider themselves to be active and knowledgeable in commercial law practice.

The thesis of this brief article is that it would be to the distinct advantage of such lawyers to change this pattern of thought and to acquaint themselves with the Bankruptcy Act. If it accomplished nothing else, it would at least round out their experience. In a personification of the corporate being it could be said that the average business lawyer has presided at a good many corporate births, some of his clients have made good marriages through his merger agreements, and a number of them have given birth to some strapping subsidiary babies of their own. To acquire a complete familiarity with the corporate life cycle, a counselor should also become acquainted with the moments of final agony and the ceremony of interment.

Possible PitfallsQuite apart from suggesting that an interest in bankruptcy practice should only be supportive of a desirable maturation of the corporate lawyer, there are some very pragmatic reasons why an enlightened selfinterest would cause one to turn his attention to the provisions of the Bankruptcy Act. Perhaps no statute other than the Internal Revenue Code has such a potential for mischief in the lives of lawyers.

The nondischargeability of particular debts under Section 17 of the Act should be of concern to those who draft a property settlement agreement in a divorce case and to plaintiff's counsel in a personal injury suit. A title examiner must be aware of the vesting of title in a trustee by operation of law under Section 70 and anyone preparing a contract or lease should consider the possible effects of trustee's powers of rejection under subsection b of that section. The potential threat of an attack by a bankruptcy trustee must guide...