Ethics

Against the backdrop of the recent COVID-19 health crisis, this session will focus on issues relating to crisis management in the business and practice of bankruptcy law. The panelists will discuss best practices for disaster recovery and business-continuity planning, technology solutions for navigating a crisis, and various legal and ethical issues that arise during a time of crisis. The panelists will also address mental health and personal wellness issues that can arise during and after a crisis.

Ever get stuck with one of “those” clients? (We’ve all been there.) What do you do when you uncover serious problems with a debtor? Learn the right —and wrong —ways to extract yourself from a problem case.This panel will discuss limited-scope representation and the ability of the attorney to withdraw before, during and after the bankruptcy case.

We often forget that what we say and how we say it can signal more than we intended. One of the primary ways in which "what we say"/"how we say it" creates such signals is with the wording of time entries, whether or not those time entries are ever reviewed by a bankruptcy court. Clients read bills, too, so if one wants to communicate that their work was valuable and efficiently performed, the fable of Goldilocks comes to mind: The time entries need to be "just right." When they're not, clients and courts can draw conclusions that we never intended them to draw. This panel will discuss these issues and more.

This session will focus on several of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct, including 4.1 (Truthfulness to Others), 7.1 (Communications Concerning Lawyer’s Services) and 8.4 (Misconduct). The panelists will address compensation and diversity in U.S. law firms and the elimination of bias; the importance of diversity and inclusion regarding creativity and innovation, the correlation with financial performance, and improving the workplace and client relationships; and ways in which law firms can actively combat unconscious bias and make retention of diverse talent a priority. The Neiman Marcus case will be discussed.

Small group breakouts led by the judges of the Southeast Bankruptcy Workshop will focus on different ethical dilemmas facing practitioners.

Every business has an obligation to protect and secure confidential information that it may receive from employees, customers, or clients. For lawyers and law firms, this duty is heightened to an ethical obligation to clients. Remote work environments, which are likely to continue post COVID-19, place additional strains on businesses to ensure that appropriate technology and practices are in place to reasonably protect data. This panel will discuss these ethical obligations generally and will provide practical best practices advice on how to continue to adapt and comply while working in a remote environment. The “new norm” extends the boundaries of the work environment which lawyers and law firms will need to continue to assess, invest in and harden appropriately to protect data accordingly. Sponsored by Freeborn & Peters LLP

This session will focus on some of the key ethics issues that confront professionals practicing in the bankruptcy field, and offer potential solutions on how to avoid getting caught in these traps. The panelists will present these issues in an interactive format so that the audience can participate and test their knowledge.

This panel will share technology tips, best practices internally and with clients. Also included will be ethical considerations of technology in a practice.

This session addresses when a bankruptcy court will accept jurisdiction and control of pending state court litigation upon the filing of a bankruptcy case by an involved party. Topics include removal, abstention, stay relief and remand, as well as the strategies and risks of filing bankruptcy in hopes of having a state court action removed to bankruptcy court.