Law Office of DAVID A. TILEM

David A. Tilem, Esq.
David Tilem, the founder of the Law Offices of David A. Tilem, is the bankruptcy ‘pro’ with over 25 years of expertise in the area of bankruptcy law representing anyone and everyone who has any interaction with bankruptcy laws. He has practiced since 1983 either as the owner or partner of the firm. Prior to founding the Law Offices of David A. Tilem, he served as a partner at Tilem & White LLP formed in 1992.

Mr. Tilem serves as general or special counsel for business and individual debtors, secured and unsecured creditors, creditor committees and bankruptcy trustees. He represents clients in appeals through the Ninth Court of Appeals and also provides expert witness and consulting services.

Mr. Tilem’s expertise in bankruptcy law is multifaceted: In 1995, he was certified by the American Board of Certification as a Business Bankruptcy Specialist. Two years later he received certification as a Bankruptcy Specialist by the State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization. From 2003 – 2007, Mr. Tilem served as a board member and chair of the State Bar Advisory Commission which writes, sponsors and grades the examination for California attorneys who wish to be certified as bankruptcy specialists.

He served as an active member of the pro bono Mediation Panel sponsored by the Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California for over ten years. Mr. Tilem has built a reputation as an expert witness appearing in family law proceedings to discuss the impact of bankruptcy law.

Named by Los Angeles Magazine to the “Super Lawyer List for Southern California” for each year the list has existed, Mr. Tilem also enjoys a top AV rating with Martindale – Hubbell, a national rating systems for lawyers throughout the U.S.

Mr. Tilem is the author of several, well respected legal articles and text book chapters on bankruptcy law. He is a member and occasional speaker for numerous law professional associations and organizations including: the American Bankruptcy Institute, the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys (serving as local chair for the Central District of CA), the Los Angeles County Bar Association Section on Commercial Law and Bankruptcy, the Los Angeles Bankruptcy Forum, and the Financial Lawyers Conference.

He was the founder of Central District Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys Association in 2004, served as a past president and continues to serve as a board member. That organization is now the 2nd largest bar association of its type in the U.S.A.

Mr. Tilem is a graduate of Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, where he earned his Juris Doctorate, and Brown University, where he received a Bachelors degree in Political Science. He is admitted to practice law in California and Massachusetts (inactive status).

In David’s spare time he enjoys travel, foreign languages and spending time with family and friends.
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Barry R. Wegman, Esq.
Barry R. Wegman heads the litigation department at The Law Offices of David A. Tilem handling matters involving real estate, business disputes, and alternative dispute resolution. Barry contributes to the firm strength in legal analysis by developing sound, legal strategies to achieve favorable outcomes for clients.

Mr. Wegman’s legal background includes over 22 years as a litigation and trial attorney both as a sole practitioner and as part of larger legal practices. Barry joined The Law Offices of David A. Tilem in 2005 and is responsible for everything from the initial evaluation of a claim through trial. At each step of the way, he aims to ensure that our plaintiff clients maximize the recovery at the least possible cost, while for our defendant clients, his efforts are focused on minimizing claims. In more challenging cases every effort is made to reach a reasonable and affordable settlement.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Wegman worked with Kelley & Associates of Sherman Oaks representing real estate brokers and agents in malpractice disputes. Insurance companies have also hired Mr. Wegman to represent their clients. He became familiar with bankruptcy cases while working for another bankruptcy firm in Los Angeles. Mr. Wegman has represented people sued for premises liability, real estate litigation matters and other forms of business litigation.

Mr. Wegman earned a Juris Doctorate from University of West Los Angeles, School of Law and has been practicing law since 1986.

He has been an active member of the community of Sherman Oaks where he served as the President of the Sherman Oaks Chamber of Commerce. In 1994, after the Northridge earthquake caused major damage, L.A. City Councilmember Zev Yaroslavsky appointed Barry to the Earthquake Recovery Committee where he helped create a recovery plan for the community.

In his spare time Barry helped form the Southern California Aerobatic Team, an association of giant scale aerobatic competitors, which ran competitions in California, Arizona and Nevada. He authored a guide to aid competitors understand Aresti diagrams, the language of aerobatic flight. He is also an avid student of poker, believing that proper game theory analysis has application in everyday life.

ona and Nevada, and authored a guide to aid competitors understand Aresti diagrams, the language of aerobatic flight. He is also an avid student of poker, believing that proper game theory analysis has application in everyday life.
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Sylvia S. Ho, Esq.
Sylvia S. Ho is an associate attorney at the bankruptcy Law Offices of David A. Tilem in Glendale, California. Fluent in Mandarin (Chinese) and familiar with basic Japanese, she is primarily responsible for handling the firm’s consumer cases. She prepares the necessary court documents to represent consumer bankruptcy clients and attends hearings, frequently with clients. Ms. Ho was admitted to the California State Bar in December 2006 and the U.S. District Court, Central District of California in August 2007.

Since joining the team, she has brought to the firm a new intercultural and language diversity, a youthful outlook, and additional expertise in consumer bankruptcy law, as well as experience working with judges and trustees of the Bankruptcy Court in both the Los Angeles and Riverside Divisions.

Prior to joining the firm Ms. Ho served as an attorney at another boutique bankruptcy firm known for its high volume of bankruptcy cases. Ms. Ho interned to the Honorable Socrates Manoukian, Superior Court of California in Santa Clara, CA.

Ms. Ho earned a Juris Doctorate from Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles and a Bachelor’s Degree from University of California at Berkeley.

Sylvia is a member of the Central District Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys Association, San Gabriel Valley Bar Association, Asian Pacific American Bar Association, Southern CA Chinese Lawyers Association and the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys.

In her spare time, Sylvia enjoys hitting the badminton court and playing doubles. If there is any spare time remaining, Sylvia likes to relax and read an engaging science fiction or fantasy novel. Sylvia also enjoys baking and to that end watches Food Network for “research” purposes.
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Patrick M. Hunter, Esq.
Patrick M. Hunter is our Wyoming attorney with over 25 years of expertise in consumer bankruptcy. He has practiced in Wyoming since 1983 primarily as a sole practitioner and joined our firm in 2008. He recently took the California Bar and is awaiting his results. Mr. Hunter is establishing the Wyoming branch of The Law Offices of David Tilem and periodically spends a week or two each month in the California office providing assistance.

Mr. Hunter serves as general or special counsel for business and individual debtors, secured and unsecured creditors, creditor committees and bankruptcy trustees. He represents clients in appeals through the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals and provides bankruptcy consulting services in Wyoming.

Mr. Hunter is a third generation Wyomingite. He graduated from the University of Wyoming with a B.S. in physics in 1980 and with a Juris Doctorate from the College of Law in 1983. He practiced with a bankruptcy firm in Cheyenne for two years before returning to Casper to set up his own practice. Mr. Hunter’s practice historically emphasized consumer bankruptcy but included work in commercial and bankruptcy litigation, domestic relations, and estate and corporate planning. He has served as a faculty member of the National Business Institute, presenting seminars for attorneys and business professionals on bankruptcy law, collections, and related commercial issues. He wrote and produced “Letters of the Law”, a weekly radio program providing the public updates on current legal issues. For two years prior to joining The Law Offices of David A. Tilem, he worked for Wyoming Legal Services as the Senior Legal Services Developer for the state of Wyoming.

Mr. Hunter is active in his church community, doing hospital visits and mentoring an adult education program. In his spare time Patrick loves to cook, landscape, play golf and spend time with his family.
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Jennifer Hurdle
Jennifer Hurdle is the newest addition to our staff. She is our office manager, keeping all of us organized, supplied and stress free (we wish). Jennifer works part time and in addition to her office management duties helps out where we need it. With a business degree from USC and over 8 years of accounting and management experience, Jennifer comes to us with a wealth of skills. Welcome aboard!

When not at work Jennifer spends her time with her young daughter and husband. On the rare occasion she has a moment to herself, she enjoys going to the movies, reading a good book, and knitting and crocheting.
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Lorena Aguirre
Lorena Aguirre prepares many of the bankruptcy petitions that we file and since joining us in 2006 has become a real pro with the software. She is partway through her paralegal training and hopes to complete her paralegal certificate in the near future. Lorena is fluent in Spanish and is available to assist our staff as needed for our Spanish speaking clients.

Lorena is family oriented and loves to spend time with her close and extended family. She is a movie buff and our resource for movie trivia. She travels with some frequency to visit family in Guadalajara Mexico and hopes someday to travel the world.
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Malissa Murguia
Malissa Murguia joined the firm in 2005. She supervises the administrative staff with a caring and steady hand. She received her paralegal certificate from the Washington Online Learning Institute in 2006, multitasking full time employment, a new born child and her education. These multi-tasking skills are essential for her work at the firm. In addition to her supervising duties, she is our electronic filing expert, qualified to do electronic filing in various courts throughout the country. Since she worked for a litigation firm for several years before joining us, she also takes the lead in our administrative needs in our bankruptcy litigation work.

Malissa is a busy lady off work also, taking care of her family, watching movies and finding those rare quiet moments when she can lose herself in a good book.
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Marcy Carmen
Marcy Carmen joined the firm in 2008, and her shining smile is usually the first impression for visitors to the California Office. She obtained her paralegal certificate from the American Career College in 1996. She has a wealth of practical experience in accounting and has served as the administrative assistant to various corporate executives. Her sense of humor and great people skills makes her our natural people greeter. Her excellent computer skills keep us on line and in line.

Marcy describes herself as a tomboy, and when she is off work you may very well find her with her head buried under the hood of a car. She loves being outdoors; camping, fishing and doing other outdoor related activities with her family.
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