NARCA Honors Members with Awards at Conference

The National Association of Retail Collection Attorneys (NARCA) announced Monday that it had honored two members with prestigious awards at its NARCA 2011 Fall Collection Conference in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Michael H.R. Buckles of the Michigan law firm Buckles & Buckles, PLC, was the recipient of the 2011 NARCA President’s Award. The NARCA President’s Award recognizes an individual’s outstanding leadership in NARCA which is of such magnitude that NARCA may not have achieved its current position of excellence without his or her efforts.

Buckles served as President of NARCA from 1999-2001 and currently serves as Chair of NARCA’s Federal Government Affairs Committee. He is also the founder, Past-President and current Government Affairs Director of the Michigan Creditors Bar Association. Mike and his law partner, wife Geraldine Buckles, practice collection law in Beverly Hills, Michigan.

“Mike is a tireless advocate whose efforts have driven NARCA’s influence and recognition at the federal level,” explained NARCA President Fred Blitt, an attorney with the Illinois-based law firm of Blitt & Gaines, P.C. “He’s a remarkably down-to-earth individual who has an uncanny ability to identify complex issues, cogitate and produce common-sense solutions and strategies. NARCA owes Mike its heartfelt gratitude.”

The group also announced that Richard Kamerman was the recipient of the 2011 NARCA Donald Kramer Award. The Donald Kramer Award, named in honor NARCA founder Don Kramer, is presented to “someone whose efforts have made a substantial and lasting impact for the benefit of the credit and legal collection community.”

“Dick Kamerman has a long and successful history of improving the field of debt collection law for attorneys and their clients,” explained NARCA President-Elect Louis Freedman. “When Dick served as in-house collection counsel for Household Finance Corporation in Chicago, he established a line of communication between the bench and collections bar, paving the way for an efficient collections process both in the courtroom and circuit clerk’s office. Later, when Dick was with Ford Motor Credit, he became the industry’s first ‘firewall’ by protecting attorneys from client demands that were unreasonable while supporting his employer by not allowing his attorney network to take advantage of the client. He developed what many feel is the premier attorney network in the field by eliminating unnecessary client demands, maintaining high client standards and implementing a tiered fee structure that rewards performance. Dick’s innovative work has set the standard for attorney-client relationships in the field of debt collection law.”

Kamerman is now retired and enjoys spending more time with his wife Sherry and his children and grandchildren, while reestablishing his educational career as a professor for four online universities.

The National Association of Retail Collection Attorneys (NARCA) is a nationwide trade association of over 700 skilled debt collection law firms and in‐house counsel of creditors. NARCA members are committed to the fair and ethical treatment of all participants in the debt collection process.