Because a Minute Is More Than Enough

The University of Illinois decided to feature yours truly on the main university web site, raising the question of exactly what someone thought they were doing. My guess is that there is someone in  the university public relations office looking for a job. There is nothing more certain to attract prospective students than to have a professor on your web site discussing bankruptcy law. In a feature called, "A Minute With . . .," I was given four questions:

(1) Congress passed the 2005 Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act because of widespread concern that the bankruptcy system was too lenient and was being abused. Has the new law curtailed the number of personal bankruptcy filings?

(2) Given the reduction in filings, do you consider the law a success?

(3) What are the most common reasons behind personal bankruptcy?

(4) Do you foresee an increase in bankruptcy filing rates?

In no particular order, I gave the following short answers "no," "a little bit," "urrggh!," and "many." If you're interested in the full answers, the university posted them here. If you're a student interested in attending the University of Illinois, be aware that the university has many fine qualities despite what you read on that web page. They really don't let me teach all that many students and then only law students at that.