Mann Bracken, LLC, the once-dominant collections law firm, appears to be going under as a result of its ties to the collections conglomerate Axiant (which filed for bankruptcy in November) and the disgraced National Arbitration Forum.  In December, the Consumers Law team scored a big win for PA consumers in a class action seeking to hold Mann Bracken accountable for manipulating Pennsylvania's rules on consumer arbitrations. 

All this seems to be taking its toll on Mann Bracken.  According to several sources, the law firm is closing its doors accross the country, leaving thousands of consumer cases in limbo. From JDJournal:

The abrupt closure of Rockville based debt collection law firm Mann Bracken’s 24 offices nationwide has plunged Maryland regulators, courts and consumers into chaos over the last several days.

“It’s a large undertaking, and it involves every district in the state,” said Mark Kaufman, Maryland’s deputy commissioner of financial regulation. “Those cases are all over the state. It’s every county in Maryland. There are hundreds of cases in every county in this state - and that’s probably conservative.”

Mann Bracken principals blamed the firm’s collapse on Axiant’s November bankruptcy filing, a company managing its support services.

Consumers with pending lawsuits should contact the administrative clerk of the jurisdiction where their case was filed, said a spokesman for the Maryland Judiciary.