The Intersection of Trustee Oversight and Education: Inside Northern Indiana's Bankruptcy CLE Infrastructure

All courthouse are subsidized places of work for some to get rich and endow their future generations with entitled wealth and others, well they get ordered to jail, seek a fresh start, or simply cower to the powers that be. This the federal courthouse in Hammond Indiana which houses the Bankruptcy Courts and 341 Hearing Room.

In the legal ecosystem of Northern Indiana, continuing legal education (CLE) programs play a foundational role in maintaining professional standards. However, public corporate records and regulatory assignments reveal a highly centralized network where the lines between regulatory oversight, private business administration, and paid professional education frequently converge.

The Geographic and Corporate Overlap

For decades, attorneys practicing before the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Indiana have attended educational programs sponsored by organizations associated with members of the bankruptcy community itself. Public records indicate that entities including Added Value Corporation, (created as a domestic for profit), and its successor, NDIN Bankruptcy Education, Inc., (now, a not-or-profit) played significant roles in organizing and sponsoring bankruptcy education programs for attorneys, their staffs, paralegals, trustees, and other professionals.

For decades, these private corporate entities organized fee-based seminars tailored specifically for bankruptcy lawyers. These events frequently featured prominent rosters of speakers, often including sitting federal bankruptcy judges, regional panel trustees, and representatives from the U.S. Trustee Program for Region 10, which for many years has been directed by U.S. Trustee Nancy J. Gargula.

Critics of this structure have questioned whether a system in which trustees, regulators, and members of the judiciary participate in educational programs attended by lawyers who regularly appear before them creates at least the appearance of an insider culture. No public findings of wrongdoing or ethics violations related to these educational activities have been identified.

One retired Indiana lawyer now living in Hawaii HE spoke to said, "The system seemed dirty and with rules for some and not for others, like my biggest competitor, a local lawyer in Goshen, who would tell his propepective debtor clients that he could do that or this and protect them becuase in Law School he was a housemate of the Judge (Harry Dees), and also he was once himself an Elkhart County Judge."

Another HE interviewee now in Colorado, not Indiana, and no longer practicing law factually will confirm that he was on made to disgourge his legal fees his clients willing paid him and which he had earned by Judge Dees, who when he refused, ordered him an unable to practice bankruptcy law in Northern Indiana, effectively ending his long legal career for being too principled. Working for no pay is illegal and involuntary servitude!

Bankruptcy law is not studied by many law students since it is not tested on state bar exams required for licensing, leaving it a mystery to many lawyers and judges alike. For those in the know it is a place where many have garnered great wealth and where the US Trustee Program set up to regulate it leaves open the question who regulates the regulators?

Debra L. Miller, Trustee, National Leader, and Educator

Debra L. Miller, often known professionally as Deb Miller (also know as Debra Miller-Shlakman) of Knoxville, TN, served for more than two decades as the Standing Chapter 13 Trustee for the South Bend and Fort Wayne divisions of the Northern District of Indiana.

Before her appointment as trustee in 2000, Miller worked as a staff attorney for the late Gary Boyn at Warrick & Boyn LLP in Elkhart. Public records also indicate that she may have held an ownership or officer role in a private Elkhart business, C'EST BON-THE SALON & DAY SPA.

Miller later became one of the most prominent Chapter 13 trustees in the nation, serving as President of the National Association of Chapter Thirteen Trustees (NACTT) and testifying before the United States Senate Judiciary Committee during the mortgage foreclosure crisis. Often she and others would attended national conventions and effectively resell the information collected there to local lawyers who whose cases they oversaw. It was easy money for speaking less than original thoughts, ideas, concepts and developments, using their government positions for private gains.

Her career before entering bankruptcy practice was equally notable: she served as a Special Agent with the United States Secret Service, specializing in white-collar and credit-card fraud investigations.

In 2023, Miller left Indiana after being selected by the U.S. Trustee Program to serve as Standing Chapter 13 Trustee for the Eastern District of Tennessee.

Paul R. Chael and the Hammond Division

Paul R. Chael serves as the Standing Chapter 13 Trustee and Standing Chapter 12 Trustee for the Hammond Division of the Northern District of Indiana, administering cases arising from Hammond, Gary, East Chicago, and surrounding communities.

Corporate records reportedly identify Chael as an incorporator of Added Value Corporation, a domestic for-profit entity that later evolved into NDIN Bankruptcy Education, Inc., a nonprofit educational organization associated with bankruptcy CLE programming.

Supporters view these educational programs as valuable opportunities for training and professional development. Critics, however, have questioned whether trustees who exercise significant authority over bankruptcy cases should simultaneously play leadership roles in organizations charging attorneys registration fees for educational programs attended by those same practitioners.

The Role of the U.S. Trustee Program

The Office of the United States Trustee serves as the federal government's watchdog within the bankruptcy system.

For many years, the South Bend field office was overseen by Assistant U.S. Trustees Susan J. Roberts and later Alexander L. Edgar. Attorneys such as Ellen L. Triebold represented the Office of the U.S. Trustee in proceedings arising within the South Bend Division.

Overall supervision for Indiana falls under Region 10, led for many years by U.S. Trustee Nancy J. Gargula (a former Notre Dame Cheerleader).

Because the U.S. Trustee Program supervises standing trustees and monitors the integrity of the bankruptcy system, some observers have questioned whether greater transparency regarding trustee participation in private educational entities could enhance public confidence in the system.

Chapter 7 Trustee Participation and Government Officials as Seminar Faculty

One distinctive feature of Northern Indiana's bankruptcy CLE infrastructure was the frequent participation of high-ranking government officials and court insiders as seminar faculty.

Program brochures and attendee materials over the years often listed sitting bankruptcy judges, Assistant United States Trustees, standing Chapter 13 trustees, Chapter 7 panel trustees, and experienced private practitioners among the featured speakers.

Among those regularly associated with the Northern Indiana bankruptcy system were:

• Debra L. Miller (now Debra Miller-Shlakman), who for more than two decades served as Standing Chapter 13 Trustee for the South Bend and Fort Wayne divisions before her 2023 appointment as Standing Chapter 13 Trustee for the Eastern District of Tennessee.

• Paul R. Chael, Standing Chapter 13 and Chapter 12 Trustee for the Hammond Division and an incorporator of Added Value Corporation, which later evolved into NDIN Bankruptcy Education, Inc.

• Susan J. Roberts and Alexander L. Edgar, both long-serving Assistant United States Trustees assigned to the South Bend field office.

• Ellen L. Triebold, an attorney who represented the Office of the United States Trustee in proceedings within the South Bend Division.

• Nancy J. Gargula, the longtime United States Trustee for Region 10, who supervised bankruptcy administration throughout Indiana and periodically participated in educational activities involving the bankruptcy bar.

• Chapter 7 panel trustees and practitioners including Jacqueline Homann and Rebecca Hoyt Fischer.

  
  

Available program materials indicate that many seminar speakers served as faculty on a voluntary basis or as part of their professional commitment to improving bankruptcy practice. Across the country, judges, trustees, and government attorneys frequently participate as uncompensated CLE speakers to educate practitioners and promote uniform application of bankruptcy law.

Nevertheless, critics of Northern Indiana's long-standing CLE structure argue that the recurring participation of government officials, supervisory personnel, and trustees in fee-based seminars directed toward attorneys practicing before them raises broader institutional questions concerning judicial transparency, regulatory independence, and the appearance of impartiality.

No public agency or disciplinary authority has found that participation by these officials in bankruptcy educational programs violated any law, ethical rule, or Department of Justice policy.

Northern Indiana's bankruptcy educational programs also involved others than the Chapter 7 panel trustees, including certain lawyers considered (or favored?) as debtor or creditor law firm practitioners.

As with standing trustees and bankruptcy judges, participation by Chapter 7 trustees in educational activities is common nationwide and is not, by itself, evidence of any impropriety.

The Core Structural Questions

Because the corporate financial records, internal revenue data, and ownership information of private entities such as Added Value Corporation are not generally available through routine public review, analysts examining these arrangements often focus on broader structural and institutional questions.

The Ethics of a BK Mafia

Does a system in which a federal case-administering trustee shares an address, resources, or infrastructure with a private fee-charging CLE organization create an inherent conflict of interest, or at minimum the appearance of one?

Regulatory Distance

The U.S. Trustee Program is charged with supervising standing trustees and ensuring the integrity of bankruptcy administration. When supervisory officials participate alongside those trustees in educational programs directed at practicing attorneys, some critics question whether sufficient arm's-length separation exists to preserve the appearance of independent oversight.

The Appearance of an "Insider Club"

Northern Indiana's bankruptcy bar is relatively small and geographically concentrated. Attorneys practicing regularly in Chapter 13 cases must interact repeatedly with standing trustees and court personnel. If those same trustees organize, sponsor, or participate in educational entities charging attendance fees, some practitioners and observers question whether attorneys may perceive pressure—whether real or imagined—to participate in order to maintain professional relationships. US Bankruptcy Judge would often attend and speak at seminars, creating the veil of official governmental support, and giving access to judges at lucheons and during breaks otherwise not allowed or guarded.

Regular Bankruptcy Judges included: Harry C. Dees sitting in South Bend, Robert E. Grant sitting in Fort Wayne (and often rummored to be the son of a former Congressman the late Robert A. Grant, for whom the South Bend federal courthouse is named. Robert A. Grant served five terms in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1939 to 1949 before himself becoming a federal district judge, but for which HE cannot confirm that paternal relationship. It may be mere coincidence), and lastly former Hammond Judge J. Philip Klingeberger, also known as a former powerful lawyer for the Internal Revenue Service appearing in bankruptcy cases for decades, and who oversaw many bankruptcy filings involving Mr. Chael as Trustee.

The appearance was one of an "Insider's Club."

Institutional Context

Under federal law, Chapter 13 standing trustees are private individuals appointed and supervised by the Department of Justice through the U.S. Trustee Program. Across the nation, bankruptcy judges, trustees, and practitioners routinely participate as speakers at CLE programs, often without compensation, to improve the practice of law.

The integration of bankruptcy administration, private educational organizations, and recurring participation by regulators and trustees nevertheless presents a noteworthy case study in legal ethics, judicial transparency, and institutional design.

To date, neither the Department of Justice, the federal judiciary, nor Indiana disciplinary authorities have publicly issued findings concluding that any official, trustee, or organization involved violated the law or applicable ethics rules.

Nonetheless, legal ethicists have long recognized that maintaining public confidence in the judicial system requires avoiding not only actual impropriety, but also the appearance of partiality.

A Continuing Debate

Bankrutpcy reform last occured in 2005. Since then the forms change periodically, first meeting of creditor hearings also know as section 341 hearings are now videotaped, making a digitial record of turnips and filling datacenters storage. Turnips refering to: "you can't get blood from a turnip." This all raised the quesiton is the US Trustee Program econocial? Or is it just another learing center money grab for a few to feed off the tit of the government sow?

With AI now, perhaps moving the entire Article 1 bankruptcy court tribunal concept into the Department of Health and Human Serivices (HHS) and making it a profit center with hearing only upon request of a creditor the norm. See many hearings are perfunctory and complete waste of limited resources at this stage. The law is established mostly and when one can pay their bills what more needs to be said? The system is top heavy and even those on the top have abused their power in HE's opinion. The problem is system and nationwide, not just in Indiana.

Whether Northern Indiana's long-standing bankruptcy CLE structure reflects merely a close professional community or an institutional model warranting additional scrutiny remains an open question.

According to Hoosier Enquirer, requests under the Freedom of Information Act seeking additional information concerning aspects of bankruptcy administration and related activities have been submitted to the Department of Justice.

Additional public records, internal administrative documents, ethics determinations, financial disclosures, and corporate records may provide a more complete picture of how these educational organizations operated and whether additional transparency reforms should be considered.