By Grace B . Pazdan , Consumer Rights Attorney with Vermont Legal Aid

had the great honor of attending NACBA ’ s 24th Annual Convention in San Francisco , CA this May as the Henry Sommer Legal Aid Scholarship recipient . This was my first time both attending a NACBA conference and visiting San Francisco , and neither experience disappointed ! My first day in the City by the Bay began with a leisurely stroll along the Embarcadero and was highlighted by a climb to the top of Coit Tower – which offered majestic 360 degree views of the city and bay in all its glory on a perfectly sunny California afternoon . The NACBA conference made an equally impactful first impression , as the event was kicked off with a vibrant Japanese taiko drumming performing . I can honestly say , I have never been so entertained at a CLE program !

As a legal aid lawyer that has largely focused her practice on foreclosure defense and consumer rights over the past eight years , I had always been interested in bankruptcy law and the promise of a fresh start that it offers lowincome and other vulnerable debtors struggling under crushing debt loads they can never repay . Out of necessity , I pieced together the basics , essentially enough to know when to refer a client to a “ real ” bankruptcy attorney .

Roughly a year ago , Vermont Legal Aid decided that there were extremely lowincome clients in need of bankruptcy assistance whose needs could not be met by our reduced-fee bankruptcy referral service . Consequently , I started taking bankruptcy referrals from other attorneys in the agency , and have filed a handful of Chapter 7s primarily to prevent public housing evictions and protect victims of domestic violence and other vulnerable debtors . In the short time that I have been filing bankruptcies , I have spent many an afternoon sidled up to the NCLC Bankruptcy Practice Manual ( co-authored by none other than Henry J . Sommer himself ) and have been fortunate to find private bankruptcy attorneys that are gracious enough to return my panicked calls when an issue arises in a case . However , as someone who has spent the last eight years practicing almost exclusively in state court , practicing in bankruptcy court often feels like visiting a foreign country where the locals speak a different language and have their own set of customs that seem strange to the uninitiated . Spending three days learning the language and interacting with the locals at the NACBA conference provided me with just the immersion experience I needed to start feeling comfortable in the culture of bankruptcy practice .

Two of the conference sessions that I attended were particularly relevant to my practice as a legal services attorney . The first was “ Intro to Tax and Bankruptcy .” At Vermont Legal Aid , we have a federal tax grant that funds an attorney to advocate for and represent low-income taxpayers in disputes with the IRS . On a number of occasions , our tax attorney has contacted me to determine if a taxpayer she is working with might be able to resolve tax debt most effectively with a bankruptcy . Up until this point , as a very green bankruptcy lawyer , I simply felt too uncertain about my own analysis of the complex discharge rules around tax debt . Talk about speaking a foreign language : three-year rule , two-year rule , 240-day rule , oh my ! So , instead of advising the client or taking the case , I would simply refer her to a seasoned private bankruptcy lawyer . The “ Intro to Tax and Bankruptcy ” seminar demystified the code and case law around tax-debt discharge giving me the confidence boost I need to spot the issues and give competent advice the next time a case with tax debt issues comes my way .

The other session that was right

12 CONSUMER BANKRUPTCY JOURNAL Summer 2016 National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys