Mr. Colwell received his B.A. Degree in Philosophy from Ripon College in Ripon, WI in 1977; and his J. D. degree from California Western School of Law in San Diego, CA in 1984. He is a member of the State Bar of California (1985) and is admitted to practice before the U.S. District Courts (Southern District of CA) (Central District of CA), the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court of the United States. Mr. Colwell maintains his practice at the Law Offices of John C. Colwell, a P.L.C. d/b/a Debt Relief Legal Clinic of San Diego County, where he has worked exclusively in the field of consumer bankruptcy since 1989. He manages a practice averaging 20 Ch. 7 and Ch. 13 consumer bankruptcy cases per month. Under his guidance, his firm filed the first “electronic” Ch. 7 bankruptcy case filed in the United States, in San Diego, and his firm is the largest filer of cases filed via the internet in San Diego (over 10000 Ch. 7 and Ch. 13’s filed electronically as of 2/2020).
Mr Colwell is a member and a Director on the Board of the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys, as well as a member of the following: 9th Circuit Information Technology and Telecommunications Committee (Former member), National Assoc. of Ch. 13 Trustees (Former member), American Bar Association (Former member), Federal Bar Association (Former member), American Bankruptcy Institute (Former member), National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees (Former member), San Diego County Bar Association (Bankruptcy Section), and the California and San Diego Bankruptcy Forum.
Mr. Colwell has participated on many panels regarding the representation of debtors, on a variety of subjects, and venues, including NACBA, NACTT, Visa USA, Inc., Toyota Motor Credit, Mitsubishi Motor Credit, CA Credit Union Collectors Council, S.D. County Bar ‘Free Law Day’, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District visiting Judges panels, and for other MCLE providers. He is AV rated by Martindale-Hubbell.