Veteran Collection Attorneys Form New Law Firm

Barbara M. Barron and Manuel H. Newburger, of Barron & Newburger, P.C., Keith Wier, formerly of Daw & Ray, P.C., and Barbara Sinsley, former Compliance Counsel and V.P. of Asset Acceptance, LLC announce the formation of Barron, Newburger, Sinsley & Wier, PLLC, a law firm with offices in Austin, Houston, and Dallas, Texas, Tampa, Florida, and New York. Ed Walton, former District Attorney of Kaufman, County, Texas, has become of counsel to the new firm.

The firm will focus on consumer financial services litigation, compliance and litigation avoidance, strategic consulting to the collection industry, and optimization of creditors rights in bankruptcy cases.

Four of the attorneys in the new firm have been certified as specialists by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization: Mr. Newburger and Mr. Wier in Consumer and Commercial Law, Mr. Walton in both Consumer and Commercial Law and in Civil Trial Law, and Stephen Sather in Business Bankruptcy Law. Two of the new firm’s attorneys (Mr. Newburger and Mr. Sather) have been recognized as Texas Super Lawyers. All the principals in the new firm, as well as Mr. Sather and Mr. Walton, have spoken and published extensively in their areas of concentration.

Keith Wier has focused his Houston practice on defending creditors, credit reporting agencies, third-party debt collectors and debt buyers in both state and federal court litigation involving the federal FDCPA and the FCRA, and other state and federal statutes for these industries. Mr. Wier is an active Member of ACA International having served on its Board of Directors at the national level and is past chair of the Members Attorney Committee (MAP) which is the defense/compliance counsel division of that organization. He has taken many fair debt and fair reporting cases to trial and is considered one of the nation’s leading defense counsel for the collection industry.

Barbara Sinsley has been a leading advocate in the collection industry and has focused much of her career on the impact of statutory and regulatory change on the collection industry. Ms. Sinsley’s years of experience as defense counsel for the collection industry has been enhanced by her last four and one-half years at Asset Acceptance and she is excited about the opportunity to use this new level of understanding to assist the collection industry in its implementation and compliance with the FDCPA, FCRA, and related collection laws.

Barbara Barron and Manuel Newburger are the authors of Fair Debt Collection Practices: Federal and State Law and Regulation and the principals of Fair Debt Consultants LLC.

Barron, Newburger, Sinsley & Wier, PLLC will be headquartered in Austin, Texas.