Customer Reviews

Bankruptcy and Debtor/Creditor: Examples & Explanations, 5th Edition

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

PROS:

This E&E was a helpful supplement to a bankruptcy law course. I wouldn't recommend using the book in substitution for a course or case book. Another review (posted 12/7/10) that complained having to sift through the book searching only for Ch. 11 material, but I found the book and its chapter layout made sense. Perhaps the prior reviewer would have been better suited with a book only on Ch. 11, although I still think the E&E is pretty solid. Since most of the basic principles of bankruptcy apply in any chapter, the book begins with a basic explanation of what leads up to a bankruptcy filing and the parties, jurisdiction issues, history, etc. This makes up the first 1/3 of the E&E.

The remaining chapters cover the "big" issues that apply in almost any case, from Automatic Stay to Adequate Protection, Property of the Estate, Transfers, Unperfected liens, Trustee power, exemptions, etc. Various chapters are mentioned as examples throughout the text in reference to these issues. There is a chapter devoted to both Ch. 11 and 13 filings.

My professor (a former bankruptcy district judge) taught with a more "abstract" method of lecturing, so in addition to the casebook, I often turned to the E&E to either learn or further explain the philosophical ramblings of my professor. I didn't do many of the examples because they were far more down-to-earth than the questions and issues posed to us by our professor, but the ones I did helped clarify the issue.

CONS:

I would have liked a chapter devoted solely to Ch. 7 cases, as there were to Ch. 11 and 13. As mentioned above, most of the issues pertain to any chapter and since I read most of the E&E (skipping the first 1/3 part, which I didn't need for my course) it wasn't too much of a detriment, but it still would have been nice.

Another thing I didn't like about the book was that there was no Bankr. Code index, and only a few codes were listed in the table of contents. If I was studying or looking for information about a specific section not mentioned in the table of contents, I had to do a lot of flipping back and forth.

OVERALL it was as good an E&E as I could have asked for, especially with a topic like bankruptcy that can be confusing a lot of the time. This book helped clarify a lot of the confusion I had from my class/text. I would also recommend reading Tabb's 'The Law of Bankruptcy' if you want a really thorough understanding and more detail about the subject. Although I think the book is probably meant to be a class text, anyone who actually wants to practice would do well having it on hand. The Law of Bankruptcy, 2d (University Textbook)

I was very satisfied. My class focused on ch. 7 and ch. 11 bankruptcies, and on the federal aspects of bankruptcy proceedings rather than any state laws. Recommended.

I used this E&E as a supplement to my law school bankruptcy class. It is very thorough and explains concepts well. The practice problems were particularly helpful. I did find it less helpful than other E&Es, however, because of two factors. (1) It is long and dense. I felt that the first 1/3 of book took up too much space on generalized, abstract concepts that were not helpful (in my class anyway). For other E&Es, I could skip sections that we did not cover in class but I had a hard time doing that for this E&E. (2) I also agree that a division by bankruptcy chapter would have been helpful. Although many concepts do cross chapters, most classes are organized by chapter. Sifting through each section for the pertinent bits took time.

The E&E sections that I read were helpful but I did not pore over the entire book because I got impatient; it is long even for an E&E and the first 1/3 was not useful. In short, its usefulness depends on how your class is organized and how patient you are. In retrospect, I would have done the practice questions in the law library and not bought the E&E.

THIS BOOK WAS EXCELLENT FOR THE PARALEGAL COURSE THAT I WAS TAKEN. THE REVIEW IN THE BACK OF THE BOOK IS ESPECIALLY HANDY IT HELPED ME GET 98/100 ON THE FINAL NO SMALL FEAT!

While I generally find E&Es helpful, this one has been less so because it includes information for every chapter of the bankruptcy code when my class only covered Ch. 11. It would be fine, except that it's not organized by chapter, so that I have to sift through to find the information that applies to just Ch.11 and that which applies to both Ch. 11 and other chapters, among the info that doesn't apply to Ch. 11 at all.

Also, because it covers so much extraneous information (from my point of view, of course), the parts that apply only to Ch. 11 seem to get short shrift.