LegalConsumer's Writing Team
Albin Renauer
For more than 30 years, and 22 editions, Albin Renauer co-authored Nolo's book How to File for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy. Albin created the means test calculator and Bankruptcy by Zip Code in 2006 as an adjunct to the book, to help people figure out their means test calculation for the county in which they live. That project evolved into the Legal Consumer website, which now spans several consumer law topics.
Albin is a lawyer and a member of the California Bar Association. Because he focuses on the website, he doesn’t take individual cases. Albin is also a web designer, writer, programmer, and computer geek. Albin is the owner of RelationalVision Database Solutions, LLC, the company that owns and operates Legal Consumer.
Albin earned his law degree and was a Law Review editor at the University of Michigan Law School (Go Blue!).
After dabbling in public interest law in San Francisco in the early 80's (e.g. Public Advocates, Inc., CRLA, Altshuler & Berzon), he joined the staff of the late Chief Justice Rose Bird for her final two years on the California Supreme Court.
When Justice Bird lost her confirmation election in 1986, Albin wanted to use computers to make the legal system more accessible.
With that in mind, he began a fruitful 17-year relationship with the original owners of Nolo, the pioneering do-it-yourself legal publisher in Berkeley, California, before it was sold to hedge-fund investors.
At Nolo, Albin managed the development of legal software (WillMaker); managed the development of Nolo's pioneering legal website (winning a Webby Award in 2001), and edited one of the first directories of law on the Internet in 1997 Law on the Net,
In 2004, Albin left Nolo to explore ways to "mash-up" Internet technology with relational databases to deliver high-quality, useful, hyper-local legal information to consumers.
The result was this website, LegalConsumer.com.
Albin is proud of the fact that Legal Consumer has been able to remain independent, committed to its spirit of helping consumers, and is not run by bankers or owned by a giant hedge fund.
Education
J.D., University of Michigan Law School, 1985 (Michigan Law Review)
B.A. in Political Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 1981
Jurisdictions Admitted to Practice
California (Inactive status... I don't take individual cases)
Professional & Bar Association Memberships
State Bar of California
NACBA (National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys)
Albin Renauer Author Page on Amazon.com
LegalConsumer.com, Website launched and operated by Albin Renauer, since 2006
How to File Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, Albin Renauer co-author, Nolo, 1989-2021 (32 years!), ed. 1-22
Law On the Net, Albin Renauer editor, Nolo, October 1997, ed. 1
WillMaker, the Editorial Staff of Nolo, Nolo, April 1993-2016, ed. 1-2017
Nolo's Living Trust for Macintosh, w/ Mary Randolph, Nolo, July 1992, ed. 1