LAWYERS WHO PUT THE POWER BACK IN YOUR HANDS

In the old days, the only people who could afford to hire a lawyer were those who had a lot of money.

If you needed help, you were out of luck unless you were willing to mortgage your first-born child and possibly sell a kidney.

Even if you could afford the help, you had to take time away from work and your family for office meetings at inconvenient times.

Every one of those meetings left you confused and anxious because every other word out of the lawyer’s mouth required a legal dictionary.

As for client service … forget it. You’d wait days, if not weeks, for your lawyer to take a few minutes to return a phone call. If you missed it, you were out of luck.

Email? Texts? Video chat? No self respecting attorney would sink to that level.

Social media? A waste of time involving pictures of cats and discussions about what people ate for lunch.

It was like some twisted version of Lord of the Rings. You had to basically give up everything, leave your job and family behind for an undetermined period of time, and then wrestle the tiniest bit of information out of someone who did everything possible to keep you in the dark.

Imagine Gollum guarding The Precious … only worse.

We took one look at the way lawyers operated and thought, there has to be a better way.

We freed up information, making it all available online. Articles, blog posts, podcasts, and social media helped bring knowledge to people in a clear, understandable way. Jargon was banished. The complex was made accessible.

We opened lines of communication. Phone lines were ripped out of the wall and made mobile. Text messaging, online chat and video conferencing were adopted to make interaction easier.

We removed barriers. Rather than forcing people to come to us, we started meeting by phone and video. We started recording all client meetings and gave copies to our clients so they could get a better understanding of our advice and the solutions we recommended.

We empowered our clients with actionable advice. Our clients come to us because of problems with student loans, consumer debts, credit report errors, and debt collectors. We analyze the situation, ask questions, and break down all the ways to overcome those challenges. We’re available if needed, but most of our clients end up relying on us for advice so they can take action on their own – without needing to pay more.

When it comes to student loan law, no attorney has more experience than I do – period. I’ve been a lawyer protecting people against lenders and collectors for over 24 years. I advise borrowers nationwide, though I handle court cases in New York and California only.

I am licensed to practice law in New York and California, and currently focus my law practice solely on student loan issues.

I’ve helped thousands of federal and private student loan borrowers lower their payments, negotiate settlements, get out of default and qualify for loan forgiveness programs. My practice includes defending student loan lawsuits filed by companies such as Navient and National Collegiate Student Loan Trust. In addition, I’ve represented thousands of individuals and families in Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy cases.

I played a central role in developing the Student Loan Law Workshop, where I personally helped teach over 350 lawyers how to help people with student loan problems. I’ve spoken at events held by the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys, National Association of Consumer Advocates, and bar associations around the country. National news outlets regularly look to me for my insights on student loans and consumer debt issues.

I was the first lawyer in New York to get the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to rule a creditor’s refusal to update a credit report after bankruptcy to show the debt as being discharged and having a $0 balance is a violation of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.  In the cases of Torres v. Chase Bank USA, NA, Russell v. Chase Bank USA, NA and Gilyard-McKenzie v. HSBC Bank USA, NA the courts agreed that consumers had the right to have their credit reports properly updated.

And in case you were wondering – every single word on this website was written by me, and I personally stand behind it.