BIG BOOK OF BANKRUPTCY FUNNIES
Buck were simple. All candidate jokes must be on the professor’ s lectern by 8:00 a. m. At 8:01 a. m., I would read the best two or three bankruptcy related jokes. The top joke would win $ 1.00 for the author. If all the jokes were lame, I would roll over the dollar until the next class. But all the timely students started their day by hearing a few jokes.
Paul Shankman was a student in my first bankruptcy class. Mr. Shankman was smart and prepared. But it wasn’ t Shankman’ s legal skills that caught my attention. It was his special attention to Bankruptcy Joke for a Buck. Shankman usually made several submissions to“ Bankruptcy Joke for a Buck.” Shankman often won the dollar. I was sure he had a secret source of bankruptcy humor.
I’ m proud to report that many of my students( including Paul Shankman) found a home in the bankruptcy field. Mr. Shankman took it seriously and( like me) eventually became Board Certified in Business Bankruptcy Law by the American Board of Certification.( You, too, are welcome to become a certified specialist with the American Board of Certification. See abcworld. com for the details.)
The Hon. Calvin K. Ashland
As an Adjunct Professor, I was permitted to maintain a full-time bankruptcy litigation practice in Los Angeles.( I’ m proud to say I lost my first trial on the day after I was sworn in as a lawyer. My career has improved since that day.)
When I began practicing in 1980, one of our leading Los Angeles judges was the Hon. Calvin K. Ashland. In 1982, when I began teaching, Judge Ashland was appointed to be one of the first judges on the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the Ninth Circuit. In 1991, Judge Ashland went on to become chief bankruptcy judge of the U. S. Bankruptcy Court, Central District of California. You can read all about Judge Ashland on line. See, Myrna Oliver,
“ Calvin Ashland; Bankruptcy Court Judge,” Los Angeles Times, April 16, 1997, available HERE(“ Appointed to the Bankruptcy Court in 1976, Ashland served as chief judge administering the court from 1991 to 1996. He also served on the appellate panel for the federal court’ s 9th Circuit covering nine western states from 1982 until [ 1996 ]. During his tenure as chief judge, Ashland helped increase the district’ s number of bankruptcy judges from 19 to 21, introduced automated systems that improved case management and established offices in Santa Barbara and the San Fernando Valley.”).
I remember one of my first appearances before Judge Ashland. I was representing a consumer debtor. I argued in favor of confirming the debtor’ s controversial“ zero percent” chapter 13 plan. When I was done answering his hard questions, Judge Ashland looked down at me and said,“ Mr. Bovitz. You are very convincing. I will confirm this plan.” I was elated!
Many years after my first appearance before Judge Ashland, the judge saw me on the street in front of a restaurant.“ Good to see you, Professor Bovitz. Did Paul Shankman ever pass along some of the jokes from my book of bankruptcy funnies?” Ah, ha! I was convinced that Judge Ashland’ s bankruptcy joke book was the source of so many of Paul Shankman’ s winning entries for Bankruptcy Joke for a Buck.
But I was wrong. Paul Shankman’ s alibi.
Eventually, I confronted Paul Shankman at a bar function about the Bankruptcy Joke for a Buck competitions and Judge Ashland’ s book. I expected a full confession. Shankman would just have to say,“ You are correct. I am not funny. I was just passing along Judge Ashland’ s best work as my own. This is what lawyers do for a living you know.”
Instead, Paul Shankman refreshed my recollection. Mr. Shankman did not know Judge Ashland at the time and did not have access to Judge Ashland’ s Big Book of Bankruptcy Funnies.
Here is Paul Shankman’ s alibi, in his own words.
I was“ wet behind the ears” as I entered my last year of law school in 1982 at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. I had the good fortune of enrolling in a bankruptcy law course taught by J. Scott Bovitz, Esq., a great comedian, teacher, and merciless task master. He was very artful at using humor to illustrate and teach key legal concepts. Scott and I“ clicked” as fast friends on a human and humor level.
Scott recognized my keen interest in bankruptcy law. Scott noted an opening for a summer internship with bankruptcy judge Calvin K. Ashland in Los Angeles. I applied for the internship and was invited for an interview.
I had never met any judge before. So, at the ripe old age of 24, I was ready to be intimidated when I appeared for the first interview.
I was invited into Judge Ashland’ s chambers at the iconic and imposing art deco federal courthouse at 312 North Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles. I sat down in a leather-bound chair and tried to look comfortable.
There was a painful silence during the first few minutes of the interview. Judge Ashland was perched in his robes behind his enormous walnut desk. He looked carefully at my resume and writing samples. From time to time, he would look up from the paperwork with his blue eyes behind oversized glasses-- always with a serious expression on his face. I slowly realized that Judge Ashland was really shy.
When Judge Ashland finally spoke, he asked me to call him“ Cal”( short for Calvin) instead of“ your honor” or“ judge.” That was disarming. Then he
National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys Winter 2018 CONSUMER BANKRUPTCY JOURNAL 35