No, Nolo, No!

Let me confess a not-surprising bias. A practicing attorney will not recommend self-help literature. But, this is not a knee-jerk or strictly self-interested opinion. It's based on observance of poor results for the in propria persona (self-represented). The adage that a fool's his own attorney is corny but true.

Now the public doesn't tend to hold lawyers in the same positive regard as police officers, or... taxidermists, but when you're alone, cornered, distraught: you want counsel. A paperback from the legal aisle at Barnes & Noble won't do.

One could view my Net presence as an enabling of self-help. It isn't. I write online to inform, so that clients may actively participate in the process.* But I don't tell them how to file a case-- for reasons of professional responsibility. What I do is akin to an MD on a WebMD-type-of-site explaining, "You're likely suffering chest pain on account of your conus arteriosus thingamiggy blocking your anterior hypoplastic ventricle auricle next to your pulmonary whatchamacallit." Though extremely technical, such input's perfectly acceptable for online dissemination. It's edifying. Yet, the doctor would refrain from writing that mass-market volume, The Idiots Guide to Removing the Hypoplastic Ventricle Auricle next to your Pulmonary Whatchamacallit. The concept How to File your own Bankruptcy is not much more helpful than that. Law work is (generally) less bloody than medicine, but it's still dangerous. Surgery we leave to those in scrubs; lawyering we leave to those in dress shirts.
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*I also write:
1) to put myself out there. No shame in promotion: actors do it, presidents do it, charities do it;
2) to personalize myself and relate on a human (i.e. non-lawyer) level to existing or potential clients; and
3) to exploit a free medium for self-expression (democracy and proliferation of drivel at work)

For more on bankruptcy, visit us at http://www.bankonitsd.com/ Call 858-344-0500 Or email admin@abramslawsd.com to request a free consultation with a bankruptcy attorney.
Serving San Diego and Imperial Counties.