Tag Archive for: financial responsibility for Florida bar applicants

January 2015 Florida Bar Hearing Defense Attorney Tip

Recently I returned from representing my clients in Investigative Hearings before the Florida Board of Bar Examiners in Tallahassee, Florida. In many of the Investigative Hearings before the Board I noticed that many applicants to The Florida Bar had past due or delinquent financial obligations. When my clients make me aware of delinquent financial obligations, I immediately begin to work with each applicant to make sure they become extraordinarily pro active with their creditors.  We focus on eliminating or substantially reducing financial obligations and making all accounts current.
The Florida Bar is not a debt collection agency. However, they do not want to see applicants “turning their back” on their creditors. All of this relates back to law firm trust accounting and the notion that if you can’t manage your own financial situations, you should not be allowed to manage a law firm’s escrow account.
For more ways to evidence financial rehabilitation and tips on how to prepare for Investigative and Formal Hearings before the Board of Bar Examiners visit our website or call Florida Bar Hearing Defense Attorney Lars Soreide at (888) 760-6552 for a consultation at no cost. We travel to all locations throughout Florida to appear before the Florida Board of Bar Examiners.

Florida Bar Defense Attorney Hearing Tip of the Month

Having just returned from the Orlando meeting before the Florida Board of Bar Examiners, I think it is important to emphasis to applicants the importance of fiscal responsibility.

The Florida Board of Bar Examiners is not a debt collection agency nor do they work for your creditors. If you are admitted as an attorney in Florida, you can immediately open a trust account and will be responsible for managing the account and making sure you follow all the bar rules concerning trust accounting. It is clearly a red flag if as a non-attorney applicant there is strong evidence of not being able to manage your own financial affairs.

One particular creditor the Florida Bar does not want to see you turn your back on is the Internal Revenue Service. If you owe the IRS money and you can’t afford to pay them at the time, make a payment plan or offer what you can afford. If anything, this at least evidences some financial responsibility that you can resolve your own debts and come to a resolution.

Many times creditors will accept pennies on the dollar and I work with and advise my Florida Bar hearing clients on how to resolve the vast majority of their debts prior to their hearing. While sitting before the Board it is best to not have anything delinquent.

For more information speak to a Florida Bar hearing defense lawyer at the Soreide Law Group.  We represent those seeking admittance to The Florida Bar, and existing lawyers, for both Investigative Hearings and Formal Hearings in front of The Florida Bar. Please call (888) 760-6552.

SPEAKING ENGAGEMENT NOVEMBER 11, 2010

Mr. Lars Soreide was invited back to speak at St. Thomas University School of Law’s Distinguished Speaker Series to discuss the growing problem of law applicants getting called in for investigative and formal hearings by the Florida Board of Bar Examiners for financial mismanagement. Topics discussed included: credit card debt, bankruptcy, foreclosure, short sales, student loans and over all financial responsibility. Strategies for formally documenting a record of rehabilitation and how to work with your creditors was also discussed. This was followed by a questions and answer session where applicants could ask questions with their specific concerns. For a more detailed explanation they were directed to contact him through his website www.FloridaBarHearing.com.