Ethics: What Can the “Real Housewives of New Jersey” Teach Us About Professional Responsibility?

Disclosing assets and verifying a debtor’s information is the calling card of any conscientious debtor’s counsel. But how do the rules governing professional responsibility interplay with debtor’s counsel’s obligations under the Code? A real housewife in New Jersey recently blamed her attorney for her prison sentence following her guilty plea for bankruptcy fraud. Did her attorney commit an ethical violation? This panel examines the record behind this headline-making case, as well as other recent bankruptcy court decisions that examine the ethical conduct and obligations of debtor’s counsel.