John B. Butler III, former law clerk, chapter 13 trustee and surely the most published author on bankruptcy in South Carolina, has written a two-volume treatise entitled The Bankruptcy Handbook, which is published in three-ring binders for easily adding supplements.

Years in preparation, this reference set is organized by topic, with a table of contents, table of cases and index. The topical headings cover the subjects most frequently encountered in a business or consumer bankruptcy practice. Each topic includes the applicable statutes and rules, and is broken down by element. Butler gives the majority caselaw rule on each element point and the leading minority positions.

The significant bankruptcy court, district court and circuit court of appeals decisions are covered, as are decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court. For those districts that require memorandum of law to accompany most motions, this is the only reference book you will need to address the applicable statutes, rules and controlling caselaw in your memorandum of law.

This is not a replacement for a set of the Bankruptcy Code and Rules, but it is a great complement to explain and annotate those sources. This publication will not instruct you on how to handle an ancillary, a municipal or a labor union dispute in bankruptcy. Rather, it is meant to address only 98 percent of the average bankruptcy attorney's practice. If you are building a bankruptcy library, The Bankruptcy Handbook should be your first purchase after the Code and Rules. Every bankruptcy lawyer will want one of these sets on his or her desk.