New York, August 18, 2004—The Coalition for Consumer Bankruptcy Debtor Education, a not-for-profit organization founded in 1998 to assist consumer debtors who file for bankruptcy in understanding and improving their ability to manage their financial affairs, has named Keith Walsh as its first Public Interest Fellow in Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Financial Literacy.

For a two-year period, Walsh will work in conjunction with the Coalition’s co-founders, New York Law School Professor Karen Gross and Fordham Law School Professor Susan Block-Lieb, and assist the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn) in serving its pro se consumer debtors.  The Fellowship was funded through generous donations from seven of the nation’s premier law firms:  Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson; Greenberg Traurig;  Kirkland & Ellis; Latham & Watkins; Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meager & Flom; Weil, Gotshal &  Manges; and Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr. 

Professors Gross and Block-Lieb remarked, “We are simply delighted that this Public Interest Fellowship is now a reality.  We hope that our work will continue to help consumer debtors in New York and will serve as a prototype for how educators, law students and the bar can work together to improve the bankruptcy system.  And, from among a pool of extraordinary applicants, we are delighted with the remarkable talents of our first Fellow, Keith Walsh.  He brings to us a strong array of talents and a deep commitment to assisting overindebted individuals.”

Walsh is a May 2004 graduate of Rutgers School of Law. While in law school, Walsh participated in a law school sponsored consumer bankruptcy program and worked with John W. Hargrave & Associates, a bankruptcy law firm in Barrington, New Jersey.  He also worked at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey as part of an externship with the Office of Legal Management. Walsh served as a judicial intern for the Hon. Dennis Michael Lynn, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Northern District of Texas in Fort Worth.  He graduated cum laude from the University of Texas at Arlington with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, and received an MBA from the University of Dallas.

To assist the Court, Walsh will:

• work in the Clerk’s Office at the Court in Brooklyn to assist consumer debtors with their questions about filing for bankruptcy, the bankruptcy process, and the specific procedures and practices of the judges;
• recruit, train and organize law students from New York Law School and Fordham Law School to assist in providing these services to the pro se consumer debtors;
• encourage consumer debtors to enroll in financial literacy classes sponsored by the Coalition;
• provide non-legal advice to consumer debtors as the need arises (referrals to pro bono counsel, social service agencies, relevant literature, and qualified consumer credit counselors). 

Walsh also will work on Coalition projects, including: 

• organizing and coordinating financial literacy education classes in New York City;
• assisting faculty in putting on the Coalition’s annual teacher training program and work on programmatic replication;
• writing the Coalition’s newsletter Making Sense of Cents and maintaining and updating the Coalition’s Web site, www.debtoreducation.org;
• assisting faculty in organizing occasional symposia and round-table discussions to address topics on financial literacy education.

“I am excited and enthusiastic about being selected to fill the Coalition’s first Fellowship position,” Walsh said. “As a non-traditional law school graduate, I plan to use my many years of corporate management experience, and my background with various non-profit organizations to assist the Coalition in achieving the objectives of pro se debtor assistance and financial literacy education.”

The Coalition, which is housed at New York Law School and Fordham Law School, was created in reaction to a critical lack of formal financial education in the U.S.  The Coalition’s programs rest on the belief that the filing of a bankruptcy case creates a “teachable moment” for individuals and the Coalition’s programs seek to build upon that opportunity to enable individual debtors to hear and learn about personal financial management. The Coalition brings together multiple constituencies interested in debtors’ financial competence and the bankruptcy system; its diverse Board includes consumer advocates, financial planners, lawyers, representatives of financial institutions, government officials, bankruptcy trustees, and educators.

ABOUT NEW YORK LAW SCHOOL
Located near the centers of law, government, and finance in New York City, New York Law School is one of the oldest independent law schools in the United States. Its faculty of noted and prolific scholars has built the school’s curricular strength in the areas of tax law, labor and employment law, civil and human rights law, media and information law, urban legal studies, international and comparative law, and interdisciplinary fields such as legal history and legal ethics. The Law School enrolls 1,400 students and has more than 11,000 graduates.

Contact: Jim Hellegaard, Director of Communications, Office of Public Affairs, New York Law School, 212.431.2191, jhellegaard@nyls.edu  

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