Cara O'Neill Attorney

Cara O'Neill is a bankruptcy and litigation attorney in Northern California and a legal editor and author with publisher Nolo Law for All in Berkeley, California. She also teaches legal courses as an adjunct professor.

Cara has authored and co-authored a number of Nolo books, including How to File for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, Chapter 13 Bankruptcy, The New Bankruptcy, Everybody's Guide to Small Claims (national version), Everybody's Guide to Small Claims in California, Solve Your Money Troubles, and Credit Repair.

She has been used as a legal expert by publications such as USA Today, CNBC, U.S.News & World Report, Nerd Wallet, and Yahoo Finance, and has authored numerous online articles in the areas of bankruptcy, debt collection, small claims, and litigation.

Before joining Nolo, she litigated criminal and civil cases for close to twenty years, served as an administrative law judge mediating disputes between auto manufacturers and dealerships, and started teaching as an adjunct professor in 2004.

In 1994, she received her law degree from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law where she graduated as a member of the Order of the Barristers—an honor society recognizing excellence in courtroom advocacy. During law school, she served as an editor of a law journal and competed on a nationally-ranked ABA moot court team. She attributes the origins of her legal career to competing on her high school speech and debate team and eventually serving as president of the same.