The culture you grow up in shapes your views of truth telling, business ethics and privacy.  I see that day to day as I counsel clients who are immigrants from other parts of the world.  It’s sometimes an uphill battle to convince them that the “price” of bankruptcy relief is full disclosure, and that it is safe to tell all to branches of the government.

I sat with a group of very experienced bankruptcy lawyers and we traded our war stories about clients from other cultures and how differently some approached bankruptcy disclosure.  What blew me away was the United States Trustee sitting with us who seemed surprised by our experiences and blurted out that he’d never thought of cultural issues influencing debtors in bankruptcy.  Duh?