If you go to the website for Jen Lee’s law practice, Jen Lee Law, you’ll see a stuffed elephant sitting on a table. Jen is a bankruptcy attorney, and she’s named her elephant Bernadebt, which is pronounced “Burn-A-Debt.” This is just one way that Jen sets out to show her clients she’s not going to be judgmental or intimidating. Her business tagline is “a caring approach to debt and credit strategy,” and it comes from the heart.
Having a problem with debt or credit is the proverbial elephant in the room. It’s a situation that affects 70% of people in the U.S., but they’re ashamed to talk about it. Jen is passionate about removing the stigma of debt and helping people find their way through difficult financial situations. Jen doesn’t push a solution … she’s as happy to help someone stay out of bankruptcy as she is to walk them through it. Her satisfaction comes from laying out the options and giving clients the knowledge to choose the strategy that’s best for them.
Jen got connected to Hebrew Free Loan a few years ago, when a board member suggested that staff encourage a Debt Consolidation loan applicant to meet with her first. It was important to be sure this individual wouldn’t be better off choosing bankruptcy. A collaborative relationship has evolved, in which Jen and the Hebrew Free Loan staff work together to help people make informed choices about how to address their debt.
“I love being a resource and debunking the myths out there about debt and credit. Hebrew Free Loan’s Business Circle allows me to meet others who love to serve.”
Jen graduated from law school in 2009, in the middle of the recession, so becoming a bankruptcy attorney was an obvious choice. People were struggling with mortgages and other debt, and Jen was determined to make a difference. She’s always preferred to call herself a debt and credit strategy attorney rather than a bankruptcy attorney. She opened her own firm right out of school, because she wanted the freedom to approach things her own way.
While she grew up in a small town in North Dakota and went to law school at University of Richmond in Virginia, Jen moved to the Bay Area after law school, to get married and establish her practice here. Jen currently lives in Livermore with her husband, two young daughters, and four dogs (or more, when they’re fostering another dog or two from the shelter).
Jen joined the Business Circle to support Hebrew Free Loan’s mission and deepen her connections with the community. Like Hebrew Free Loan, helping people overcome hardships and become financially self-sufficient is what Jen Lee Law is all about.
