I went to Bankruptcy Court yesterday to watch a hearing on a complicated matter. In essence, it's lawyers fighting lawyers about professional fees. A whole bunch of folks are going to cough up fees that they've already received and deposited, essentially. The fighting is over whether that'll happen (but that's a losing battle), when, and how much will be coughed up, by whom. There are interesting procedural and substantive questions about how it will work. Most of the local bankruptcy lawyers were there in court, and I sat in the gallery watching and listening. It got dramatic and pointed at several moments. Another young lawyer, a friend, sat beside me, and from time to time we'd whisper to one another when we thought someone got something wrong, or when a comment struck us as particularly sharp-edged.
There was a recess and I had to scurry off to another meeting. When I came back after that meeting the fun was over. I stood in the anteroom and talked to the baliffs for a while. They had both been very entertained by the hearing. That was something, wasn't it? They assured me that the second part of the hearing, that I had missed, hadn't been nearly so interesting. They told me what the judge had ordered, fumbling over the Code section numbers. "The 726 determination -- is that right, 726? -- will be happening in January." Cool. For some reason I forget that the baliffs can be as entertained by these proceedings as lawyers can.
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