Member of the Month: June 2006
Gene Melchionne, Waterbury Connecticut

Mr. Melchionne is a graduate of The University of Connecticut (B.A. 1977) and Drake University School of Law in Des Moines, Iowa (J.D. 1980).

Prior to starting a solo practice devoted to consumer representation in 1990, Gene was associated with various law offices in Connecticut representing credit unions, commercial collection agencies and condominium associations. In addition to his practice, Gene was an adjunct professor at the American Institute of Banking and Teikyo Post University teaching bankruptcy, real estate, commercial and consumer law. Gene advised the Corporation Counsel's office for the City of Waterbury on bankruptcy and foreclosure issues and mentored junior attorneys in that office. Working his way through law school, he was a credit reporter and then Vice President of the Waterbury Credit Bureau prior to the computerization of the industry and consolidation into the three major credit-reporting agencies. All of this experience has proved invaluable to the representation of consumer debtors in bankruptcy.

Gene has been a member of NACBA since 2002 and has attended every convention since that date. In 2004, Gene was appointed a State Chair for the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys (NACBA). He acts as liasion between the national organization and Connecticut attorneys who are members of the Association. He hopes to foster continued education of attorneys in the bankruptcy field and increase consumer access to bankruptcy relief in light of the new law passed in 2005. Most recently, Gene worked closely with the Connecticut Bar Association, Tara Twomey, and Professor Peter J. Rubin to fashion the affidavits in support of NACBA’s First Amendment lawsuit to overturn the Debt Relief Agent provisions of BAPCPA. One of Gene’s debtor clients has joined him as a plaintiff in the case.

Being a computer geek and avid (some say, ‘rabid’) Macintosh user, Gene learned to hand code his first web site in html in 1995. Starting in 2003, he has posted web pages with photographs and reports of the various NACBA conventions. At the most recent NACBA convention in New Orleans, this process hit a new high when photographs of the Paperless Office session were posted while the session was in progress and links to photographs were sent to the speakers while they were on the podium. You can find those pictures at NACBA photos. Most recently, he has created a template for an official podcast for NACBA and anxiously waits release of the podcast to NACBA members and later, the public. The second test of the podcast is a humorous interview of Gene with himself as member of the month for NACBA. That podcast can be found here.

Gene believes that NACBA is the most supportive of any bar association he has ever joined. He said, “The members of this organization are not snobs; they are willing to give their hard earned experience, research and documents to you without reservation or cost simply as a way of supporting the consumer bankruptcy bar. Before joining NACBA, I was a blind man wandering alone in the forest. NACBA rocks!”