President’s REPORT
John C. Colwell
Debt Relief Legal Clinic
San Diego, California
Dear Members of NACBA:
It is with a sense of humbleness, yet
great pride, that I address you as the
President of this amazing organization.
During my tenure as a member, board
member, Secretary, Vice President,
and now President, I have been
constantly encouraged and rewarded
by the dedication, hard work, and
perseverance undertaken by YOU, our
valued members, our excellent staff,
and our tenacious board of directors.
I wish to personally thank you, as my
practice and my life have been so
positively enriched by each and every
one.
2017 is now behind us - it was a
challenging year - for those of us in
the consumer and small business
bankruptcy practice - and for our
organization. NACBA has weathered
staff changes, board changes, and
membership changes, yet we continue
moving forward for the betterment of
our clients, our practices and NACBA
as a whole.
Dan LaBert, our immediate past
Executive Director has taken a new
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CONSUMER BANKRUPTCY JOURNAL
position with a larger organization in a
different field. He remains with us in a
transitional role. Our heartfelt thanks
goes out to Dan, and we certainly wish
him the best in his new position.
Dan leaves us in a greatly strengthened
position looking forward. Our ‘front’
and ‘back’ technologies have been
more tightly integrated, and we have
a stronger online presence. Dan
introduced ‘NACBA Now’ and the
Consumer Bankruptcy Journal, both of
which have been favorably received in
the online legal community. Speaking
of communities, our “ancient” listserv
finally reached its “End of Life,” as the
techies call it, and, in its place, the new
Higher Logic-branded Communities
were transitioned in. That platform
provides identical use as the old listserv
and contains enhanced features as
well as actual modern security.
Jim Haller, our immediate past
President, has taken a new position
within NACBA as the Education
Director. Jim is reveling in his new post,
aggregating a vast amount of NACBA
institutional knowledge, coupled with
Winter 2018
his own expertise, to design and
roll out many and varied sources of
bankruptcy-related education programs
for our members, including Webinars,
Workshops, Blogs and Video Blogs.
Jim’s experience and proficiency in
our field make him uniquely qualified to
fill this new NACBA position and help
NACBA fulfill its role of providing top-
notch education for our members.
Our Legislative Committee, co-chaired
by Ike Shulman and Ed Boltz, has
been meeting regularly to monitor
any legislation that would impact our
membership, as well as continuing our
efforts to educate our Congressional
leaders and other policy-makers
regarding the need to restore discharge
rights for our clients struggling with
student loan debt. Our long-term
focus on making law changes for the
betterment of our clients remains
steadfast. A core group of NACBA’s
finest will travel to Washington, DC
in February for in person-meetings to
lobby on our behalf issues. Thanks
to Krista D’Amelio, our Director of
Government Affairs & Communications,
for “herding” the legislative “cats” and
National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys