From: Brooklyn, New York

NACBA’s January 2010 Member of the Month, Jay Fleischman, is a solo practitioner concentrating entirely in the field of the representation of consumer debtors in bankruptcy cases and related proceedings.  The majority of his practice is centered on litigation of matters involving violations of the automatic stay and discharge injunction.

Jay’s most significant work to date has been in the field of post-discharge credit reporting errors.  In the cases of In re Torres, 367 B.R. 478 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y., 2007), and In re Russell, 378 B.R. 735 (Bankr. E.D.N.Y., 2007), the courts held that a refusal to update a consumer debtor’s credit reports post-discharge in the face of a valid dispute under the Fair Credit Reporting Act may be a violation of the discharge injunction.  In Torres, the court further held that the Purchase And Sale Agreement transferring a debt from a first-party creditor to a debt buyer was not privileged and was properly made a part of the public record.

The logic in the Torres and Russell cases was followed by the court in In re McKenzie-Gilyard, Case No. 1-05-14317-ess (Bankr. E.D.N.Y. 12/11/2007) (Bankr. E.D.N.Y., 2007).

Jay graduated from the State University of New York at Binghamton in 1991 with a B.A. in Economics.  He then received his J.D. cum laude from Buffalo Law School in 1994, where he was a Note and Comment Editor of the Buffalo Law Review as well as the President of the Philip C. Jessup International Moot Court Board. 

While in law school Jay authored Swimming the Murky Waters: The Second Circuit and Subject-Matter Jurisdiction in Copyright Infringement Cases, 42 Buff. L. Rev. 119, 125 (1994).

Jay has been an active member of NACBA since joining in 2002, serving as NACBA’s State Chair for New York (Downstate) and as a speaker at many Annual Conventions and Members-Only Workshops.  He has been active on NACBA’s listservs and administers a state listserv for NACBA members from New York.  He is also a member of NACBA’s Fundraising Committee and organizes the Listserv Party each year at the Annual Convention.

Jay is married to his college sweetheart.  They live with their son Micah and black pug Griffin in Brooklyn.

When asked about the value of his NACBA membership, Jay responded, “NACBA has been the most important part of my professional life since joining in 2002.  It is the best CLE, and the information I’ve shared with other members has allowed me to become a better lawyer, stronger consumer advocate, and smarter professional.”