NACBA is pleased to announce its first Member of the Month team: Carol and Rob Colliersmith. Their firm, Colliersmith & Associates, PC, has a practice dedicated to debtor-side consumer bankruptcy. They have three offices in the metro Atlanta area and represent clients from the 10-county Atlanta division of the Northern District of Georgia. Carol and Rob have the distinction of being the only husband-wife NACBA State Chair team.

The Colliersmiths have been actively involved with local organizations attempting to create a cohesive debtor's bar, while trying to implement the provisions of BAPCPA on a local level. Carol served as secretary, vice president - and for the last two years, president - of the Metropolitan Atlanta Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys Group, an organization open to both creditor and debtor attorneys. This group has as its purpose the creation of dialogue between the attorneys for discussion of legal developments and issues.

Rob has done significant work to change the attorney fee structure in the Northern District of Georgia after BAPCPA. Recognizing that the pre-BAPCPA no-look fee was going to result in a mass exodus of debtor attorneys, Rob worked with several other debtor and creditor firms and a very helpful Chapter 13 Trustee to present to the Bench a proposal regarding the abolishment of the "no look" fee. The Northern District of Georgia has now implemented, among other choices, a "market approach" to Chapter 13 fees.

The Colliersmiths' first NACBA convention was the 2003 meeting in New Orleans (before Katrina). "We were amazed at the quality of the seminars and the caliber of the speakers. This had been the first seminar that we had ever attended where the participants actually wanted to be there. This wasn't about getting CLE hours, this was about learning from the speakers and from the other members. We were hooked. Since then we have been active members and have attended every annual convention and workshop. Every time we return from one of the NACBA conventions we come back invigorated and ready to try something new in our practice."

Veteran Convention attendees, Carol recently participated at the 2007 NACBA Annual Convention as a member of the panel on Ethics.

Rob was recently speaking to a fellow Atlanta attorney about NACBA. The attorney somewhat derisively compared the convention to an "evangelical meeting". When Rob reflected back on the conversation, he decided that the attorney was right: "The NACBA conventions are like evangelical meetings. However, the meetings are grounded in law and demonstrate that the participants are willing to face new approaches and challenges. There is in the air a sense of anticipation, intelligence and willingness to learn. The speakers are not there just to get through the presentation; instead they want to help the attending attorneys leave that evening with new ideas and thoughts, possibly new approaches. "When we leave the conventions on Sunday afternoons we are always tired but excited and inspired about putting into practice what we have learned. We are converts."

Carol grew up in Florida and attended the University of Florida for undergraduate studies and law school. Rob was a "foreign service brat" and lived overseas as a child. Rob graduated from Emory with his undergraduate degree and from Mercer Law School. Both recently attended Max Gardner's "Boot Camp" and would highly recommend it to everybody. They are a large family with four children, three in college and one at home who is a high school senior. "Thank goodness for the Hope scholarships."