Ken Edstrom is a bankruptcy attorney with over 37 years of experience in law. Here, he speaks about his work representing pro bono clients in bankruptcy proceedings.
What made you start volunteering at VLN?
I started volunteering for VLN shortly after I became an attorney in 1983. I did phone interviews for people with financial issues to screen them for a possible bankruptcy filing, wrote letters to creditors and did live clinic appointments for several
years. Sometime in the 80s, I also filed my first VLN Chapter 7 and I have been doing so ever since. I try to keep at least on volunteer Chapter 7 on my open file list at all times, and sometimes two. I have also done adversary proceedings in bankruptcy
court for VLN. The reason I keep doing it is the same reason why I started doing it. You have a duty as an attorney and as a human being to do something to help others. My skillset as a bankruptcy attorney allows me to do that via VLN. VLN makes it
easy to plug in to the needs of the financially strapped and without them it would be a lot harder to do what I do.
What impact have you seen your volunteerism have on others?
I get lovely thank you notes from clients that I have helped. They are always pleased that I treat them no differently than paying clients and make an effort to communicate with them throughout the process.
What impact has your volunteerism had on you?
It is so much a part of me that I don't really give it much thought. The simplest way to answer is that working for VLN clients helps me do what I think is necessary.
Interested in volunteering with VLN? Visit vlnmn.org/volunteer to learn more and get involved.