All attorneys staffing the Bankruptcy Pro Se Assistance Clinic should have at least 3 years of bankruptcy experience, ideally representing consumer debtors. Training will be made available to experienced creditor and business bankruptcy attorneys, who have 3 years of more experience, but are not current on the law applicable to consumer debtors.
Attorneys with little to no bankruptcy experience will be provided with the opportunity to attend the training developed for non-consumer debtor attorneys. Additionally, they will be permitted to staff the Pro Se Clinic conditional on the presence of a qualified mentor. A qualified mentor is any attorney meeting the standard 3-year experience requirement, who has previously served as a Pro Se Clinic volunteer.
If an attorney volunteer with less than 3 years of experience wishes to staff the Pro Se Clinic without a mentor, the Clinic Administration may waive the 3-year experience requirement. The decision may be based on personal experience with the attorney, discussions with past mentors (if any), the number of cases the attorney has handled, the quality of work of the attorney, completion of bankruptcy-related training, and any other factors the Administration find relevant in assessing the attorney’s ability to provide sound legal advice.
To request an experience waiver, please contact the Pro Se Clinic’s Executive Director at [email protected] and describe the details of your situation.
Note: In addition to meeting (or receiving a waiver of) the experience requirement, a Southern District of Florida Bankruptcy Pro Se Assistance Clinic volunteer must also be a member in good standing of the Florida Bar and admitted to practice before the Southern District of Florida. If any of these requirements are not met or cause is given to disqualify a volunteer from participation, a volunteer will be notified of the circumstance and informed of what is needed to qualify them for participation in the future.
