Can an Attorney Represent Sample Clauses

Can an Attorney Represent a Debtor in a Chapter 7 but not in Connection as to a Reaffirmation Agreement? There are two approaches to this question. First, in In re Xxxxxxx, an Oklahoma court “mirror[ed] the Model Rule in allowing limits on the scope of representation where ‘reasonable’ and where the client gives ‘informed consent.’”73 There, the debtor was not represented by an attorney as to the reaffirmation agreement, as was such counsel’s practice.74 “[Condemning counsel’s practice[,]”75 the Court stated that “[c]ounsel that are unwilling to undertake and follow through on such duties should not accept employment in a Chapter 7 case, or if currently 65 Xxxxxx Xxxxxxxxx, Bankruptcy Attorneys’ Responsibility to Clients in Reaffirmation Agreements, 20 No. 2 Prof. Law 22,22 (2010). 66 Xxxx, supra note 4, at 381. 67 Xxxxxxxxx X. Xxxxx & Xxxxxxx Xxxxxx, Nine Traps and One Slap: Attorney Liability Under the New Bankruptcy Code, 79 AM. BANKR. X.X. 283, 291 (2005). 68 Xxxx, supra note 4, at 373. 69 FED. R. BANKR.P. 9011(b). 70 FED. R. BANKR.P. 9011(c). 71 Xxxx, supra note 4, at 376. 72 Xxxx, supra note 4, at 377. 73 399 B.R. 841, 851 (Bankr. N.D.Okla. 2009). 74 Id. at 844. 75 Xxxx, supra note 4, at 380. employed, should withdraw from all further representation of the debtor.”76 The Court took this position because the obligation to help client’s decide whether to surrender, reaffirm, or redeem secured debts is “one of an attorney’s primary and essential responsibilities, particularly after the passage of [BAPCPA], which made the decision more difficult and more complicated.”77 Additionally, “the responsibility for advising a debtor about the reaffirmation process and evaluating the effect of each agreement [is laid] at the feet of debtors’ counsel.”78 Alternatively, in In re Xxxxxxx, the court “endorsed de facto partial withdrawal as a potential solution.”79 There, the court did not believe a lawyer refusing to certify a reaffirmation agreement should withdraw, but that such lawyer should even help the client prepare the proposed agreement.80 The court “found that it might be consistent with the lawyer’s professional responsibilities for the attorney to help the client ‘achieve an objective that the client has a right to seek but the lawyer recommends against.’”81 As discussed by Xxxxxx Xxxxxxxxx, the Xxxxxxx approach has three implications.82 First, how should a court treat the reaffirmation agreement of a debtor who is unrepresented as to the agreement, but was represented in the bank...