Sandpoint attorney Ford Elsaessers name pops up frequently, often in a major news story or in the context of a high-impact legal issue.


It did when he argued an important legal point before the U.S. Supreme Court, and again when he testified on Capitol Hill to a joint committee of Congress. It also did when he represented Mark Fuhrman in a deposition for O.J. Simpsons civil trial, when he arranged the successful sale of bankrupt Schweitzer Mountain Resort to Seattle investors, and when he disposed of Aryan Nations leader Richard Butlers compound in Hayden Lake.


Despite these high-profile roles, Elsaesser (pronounced el-SESSER) prefers to talk about the troubles facing family farms these days. As a trustee for Chapter 12 (family farm) bankruptcy cases in Eastern Washington and North and Central Idaho, Elsaesser has handled cases involving ag ventures ranging from mom n pop 10-acre orchards to the largest seed company in the U.S.


There are some serious problems in the farm economy right now, he says, adding that the last five years have been like water torture for farmers because of the combined impacts of foreign competition and depressed commodities prices.


Elsaesser is against ending farm subsidiesa perennial issue on Capitol Hillbecause, in his opinion, foreign farms are subsidized at a vastly higher level than are their American counterparts.


Farmers in competing nations, you could almost call them a subsidiary of the government, he says. If subsidies here are discontinued, youd see a huge increase in farm bankruptcies both large and small, he says.


First job in Priest River


Elsaesser, 50, who is senior partner in the Sandpoint firm of Elsaesser Jarzabek Anderson Marks & Elliott Chtd., is no stranger to the needs of the little guy.


He grew up in economically depressed Youngstown, Ohio, got a forestry degree in 1973 from Goddard College, in Vermont, and worked in a fish hatchery, a boat yard, and a liquor store before deciding to follow his father into the legal profession. He researched law schools around the U.S., he says, and concluded that the University of Idaho offered a good value.


He got his first job as a lawyer in Priest River, Idaho, where he still lives, and started his own law firm in Sandpoint in 1979. Priest River is about 20 miles west of Sandpoint.


Bankruptcy law became an accidental specialty for him because of changes in the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the late 1970s that made it easier for both consumers and businesses to file for bankruptcy protection, he says. Those changes, combined with high interest rates at the time and a decline in the regions natural resource-based economy, triggered a lot of consumer bankruptcy filings, he says.


He became a court-appointed Chapter 7 (bankruptcy liquidation) trustee for North Idaho in 1984, and in that positionwhich takes a watchdog role over the bankruptcy processhas overseen about 11,000 Chapter 7 cases, he says.


In 1994, Elsaesser landed before the nine justices of the U.S. Supreme Court to argue an important legal point in a case that arose from the Chapter 11 reorganization of Bonner Mall Partnership, which he represented.


The case, which pitted U.S. Bancorp Mortgage Co. against the owners of the Sandpoint-based mall, had to do with how properties are appraised while undergoing Chapter 11 reorganization. Elsaesser took the case all the way through the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, then the Supreme Court agreed to hear it, at which point the parties settled. As part of the settlement, however, the bank asked that all lower-court decisions in the matter be vacated, or essentially wiped off the books so they couldnt be used as legal precedent. The practice is called vacatur, and Elsaesser admits that for him at that time, the term was but a vague law-school memory.


The Supreme Court, however, had been looking for a reason to take up the issue of vacatur in the federal courts. Because the request to vacate a decision typically was accompanied by a payment from the loser to the winner, you could almost say (the practice) was a bribe, Elsaesser now says. In addition, it had the effect of allowing wealthy parties to re-litigate issues if they werent happy with the decisions rendered. The Supreme Court decided to use Elsaessers case as the springboard to render judgment on the practice once and for all.


The episode created a roller coaster of emotions, Elsaesser says: He was elated when the Supreme Court decided to hear the original bankruptcy case, then disappointed when the litigants settled, then jazzed up againalthough he was also anxiouswhen he was asked to argue the issue of vacatur before the High Court.


Elsaesser sought out a Los Angeles attorney who had clerked for a Supreme Court justice to obtain some coaching on how to argue a case before the highest court in the land.


The experience was surprising in that it was very intimate, Elsaesser says. Youre closer to the judges than most people would expectthe Supreme Court judges are sort of in your face.


Whats more, You never get a chance to make an eloquent argument because the justices are peppering the attorneys with questions, he says.


Once you got comfortable answering the questions, then it sort of flowed, but obviously your nightmare is that theyre going to ask you a question you have no answer for.


In the end, the justices decided unanimously in Elsaessers favor, putting an end to vacatur at the federal level and preventing people from taking another bite of the litigation apple, he says.


National reputation


Elsaessers career in bankruptcy law has earned him a national reputation, says John Bury, a Spokane bankruptcy attorney at Murphy Bantz & Bury PS who has worked with Elsaesser on cases.


Hes definitely outstanding in the field, Bury says.


Elsaesser, for example, has developed widely used programs to educate state trial-court judges on bankruptcy issues and has taught classes on fraud at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va.


His experience also last year landed him in the presidency of the American Bankruptcy Institute, a group whose 7,500 members include attorneys, bankers, judges, and accountants, and whose mission is to provide research and education on bankruptcy-related matters.


Bury says Elsaesser does an especially good job of handling big, complex bankruptcy cases, ones that involve lots of attorneys, creditors, and claimants. In those cases, You have to have the skill to see the big picture, Bury says.


For his part, Elsaesser says bankruptcy cases big and small are fundamentally alike.


Everything always starts with a balance sheet, he says.


In fact, Elsaesser says that if he could give one piece of advice to law students who want to pursue a career in the bankruptcy realm, it would be to get some training in the basic concepts of accounting. You just cant be a good bankruptcy lawyer without it, he says.


Elsaesser anticipates more work for bankruptcy attorneys in coming months.


Even though interest rates are very low, banks are tightening credit, as they should, he says. Because of that, I think were going to have a substantial increase in Chapter 11s nationwide.


He anticipates more consumer bankruptcies as well because of the downturn in the U.S. economy, coupled with the proliferation of credit card debt in the past decade.


In that situation, it obviously doesnt take much to tip over financially, he says.


Elsaesser balances out his bankruptcy work by serving as corporate counsel to some of North Idahos leading companies, including Coldwater Creek Inc., Intermountain Community Bancorp, Lifestream Technologies Inc., and Lignetics Inc.


Seeing firsthand how successful companies navigate the business world helps him understand how to try to steer ailing companies out of trouble, he says.


He continues to be fascinated by bankruptcy work, he adds: You get to learn about a new business any time you take on a large Chapter 11.